metal detector Tag | Page 37 of 50 | The Ring Finders

Small Gold Ring Lost at Moa Pt, Wellington, New Zealand

  • from Wellington (New Zealand)

From out of the ashes

Gisele had been to a bonfire party on the beach and during the night, while sitting on a log in front of the fire, she flicked her hand and lost a very small gold ring.  All her friends searched in the sand but they were unable to find it. She found out the next day that another group had moved in on their bonfire when they had left, and had shifted a lot of sand into piles to make a wind break and then covered the fire with sand when they had finished.

When my wife and I met up with Gisele she was able to show me an identical ring.  She had made both these rings herself from the gold of a friend’s mother’s ring.  They fitted on her little finger and were a very thin band with a small peridot stone mount. I have just bought a CTX 3030 and although I am very impressed with its abilities I was thinking this was going to be a difficult search.  I ran the coil over the ring’s twin and it showed a low reading, so at least I had a target reading.

Fire on the left.  Mound to the right after I had spread some of the sand out.

Fire on the left. Mound to the right after I had spread some of the sand out.

A quick scan over the area just brought up lots of trash.  As I got closer to where the fire had been the sand was full of nails and it was apparent that they had been burning old wooden pallets. I then turned my attention to the windbreak mound.  As it was about 2 feet deep I knew I had to dismantle the mound shovel by shovel to make sure it wasn’t there.  Lots of nails and melted aluminum but no gold ring.

I then did another test with the other ring to see how deep I could pick it up.  With the ring on my plastic shovel I piled about 100mm (4ins) of sand on top and barely got a reading.  This was a bit worrying as this ring could easily be deeper than that.  I was moving sand a shovel full at a time and spreading it out and rechecking with the metal detector.

Gisele and my wife helped out by sifting through the ashes in the fire, with their fingers, to remove as many nails as they could find.  I then moved on to a small pile beside where the main fire had been.  It looked like something else had been burning there and a pile of sand had been thrown over the top of it.  It was full of nails but I started to spread it out and double checking each scoop before putting another scoop on top.  More nail signals and I was just about to put another shovel full on top when a got just a small beep in the right numbers.  I couldn’t get it to repeat because there were so many nails there but I could see the cursor on the screen occasionally flick down to that area.

Blackened gold ring after I brought it to the surface with the Pro Pointer

Blackened gold ring after I brought it to the surface with the Pro Pointer

It was one of my last chances so I got the pro pointer and started removing everything that set it off.  After about eight nails I lifted a blackened ring to the surface with the end of the pro pointer.

I don’t know who was more surprised – me or Gisele, when I told her to come over and have a look. She threw her arms around me and nearly knocked me over.  This is what makes the 2 hour search all worthwhile.  Certainly the hardest successful search I have done to date.

So it looks like the other party had shoveled some sand over the fire to put it out and the ring had gone into the fire with it.  It had been blackened by the fire but didn’t appear to be damaged so I am sure Gisele will be able to clean it up and get it back to original condition.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to find this ring for Gisele – it meant a lot to her.

Gisele holding her tiny ring

Gisele holding her tiny ring

Platinum Wedding Ring found in Lyall Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

  • from Wellington (New Zealand)

Veronika called me to say that her husband, Sean, had lost his platinum wedding ring while digging out a small garden, next to a public footpath, at the front of their house.  She sounded very anxious so I managed to find he time to go straight to her house to start searching.  They had collected all the long grass and weeds in rubbish bags so it was quick and easy to run the detector over that to make sure it wasn’t there.

The area that was dug over was very small but very contaminated with trash and I was worried about a lot of power wires running directly overhead.  Luckily they did not cause any problem and it was just a matter of working through the trash.

I got to an area that was giving me multiple signals and would occasionally flash up a 45 which was the right number for platinum, but I just couldn’t pinpoint it.  I had to start eliminating the trash out of the ground and finally got a clear signal.

The ring was right underneath these roots

The ring was right underneath these roots

I dug down under the roots of one of the plants and it just popped up with the knife.  I don’t know how it managed to get so far down and under the roots.

There was great excitement and a lovely squeal of delight from Veronika when I told her I had found it, not to mention the big hug.  I just love it when I get these finds.

Thanks for the reward – always appreciated.

Veronica hold the ring

Veronica holding the ring

Same ring lost twice and recovered twice Arlington Heights,IL

  • from Las Vegas (Nevada, United States)
Contact:

imageimagePerhaps this ring looks familiar! It should . I posted it about july 12th 2012 when I first found it in the garden for a customer. Well, today I received another call from the same customer. This time the ring came off while hanging Christmas lights. Ironically, it was found about 3 feet away from where I found it last year!
Maybe I should consider a package discount. 😉

 

 

Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”

  • from Newark (Ohio, United States)
Contact:

About two weekends ago, I received an email  from a guy that has lost his wedding band. Over the weekend as he was raking and putting leave in trash bags. As he notice that his ring was missing.  He has been looking for the ring since. Dumping the bags full of leaves and searching though them with his bare hands. After a few emails, a search date was set. I show up and started my search, after about a hour the ring was found in one the the many piles from dumping the bags. He was very happy to have the ring back.

IMG_20131119_171421_012

Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”

IMG_20131119_171439_225

Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”

IMG_20131119_171538_285

Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”

 

Lost Ring at Normandale School, Wellington, New Zealand

  • from Wellington (New Zealand)
Clare and Austen

Clare and Austen

Clare's White Gold Ring

Clare’s White Gold Ring

Clare rang me this afternoon to tell me that she had lost her engagement ring while playing with her family at the local school playground a couple of days ago.  She had removed the ring and put it in her pocket to prevent it from coming off her finger.  When she left the playground she realized it was missing from her pocket.

I had to wait until school was out but even then there were a lot of children and parents at the playground.  The floor of the playground was covered with a deep layer of wood chip which would easily swallow up a ring if it was dropped.

I had to work around the ever curious children, and the metal equipment left some areas that I couldn’t eliminate with confidence, but eventually I had to ring Clare for some more detail.  She mentioned that she had moved off to a small grassy area where she had put on her cardigan with the ring in the pocket.

I set to work in this area and soon got a solid signal.  As I pinpointed it the beautiful white gold ring revealed itself just under the grass.  It was great to make the call to let Clare know I had found her ring.  A short time later I met her at her house as she arrived home from work and handed it over.  She was so thrilled and seeing the smile on her face made it all worthwhile.

 

Ring lost in La Jolla Found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

This is another long distance find. Portia called me and said her husband Chris probably lost his wedding ring at a beach resort in La Jolla. The location was on private property so they had to arrange for me to do a search there. They were visiting from Colorado and had already returned home when they contacted me so they couldn’t show me the location in person but they were able to e-mail me a map with the likely area noted. So with my trusty “treasure” map and a contact name at the resort, I headed down the the beach with my E-trac. After meeting the resort person and telling him my plan, I headed over to the search area and started a grid pattern. Since I was searching for a stainless ring, I didn’t leave anything to chance on signals…..and there were a ton of them! I dug everything that made a repeatable sound. Seems nobody has detected that area for quite some time as there were target everywhere! After about an hour or so, moving a few beach chairs,  and over 40 targets, I got another one that didn’t fit any common target I.D. Success! It matched the description so my day was done. I gave them the fun call and made arrangements to mail the ring to them. It’s up to the USPS to finish the reunion now! Thanks for calling me and hopefully when you vistit here again, we’ll get a chance to meet.

100_1185

Titanium Ring found at Scorching Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

  • from Wellington (New Zealand)
A Very Happy Trafford

A Very Happy Trafford

Trafford's Titanium Ring
Trafford’s Titanium Ring

I received a call from Trafford who had been throwing food scraps to the sea birds when he felt his Titanium Wedding band come off his finger.  He didn’t see where it landed but thought it may have gone all the way to the water.

He, his wife, and another couple spent almost 2 hours searching the sand but were unsuccessful.

Luckily they found our website when looking for a metal detector to hire.

I arrived at the beach a short time later and met the very anxious couple and got them to show me where they thought they were when the ring came off.

Trafford gave me and area where he thought he had been standing, but there was only a very small area of dry sand as the tide was now fully in.

I thought it was worth checking the dry sand first before getting my feet wet.  I ground balanced the AT Pro to the sand and gave the coil one sweep over the sand.  I got a signal straight away, which looked good, so I dug a shovel full of sand out and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the ring pop up to the surface.

Trafford and Rachel were so excited and they couldn’t believe I had found it so quickly.

The ring meant a lot to them as they have only had it for 4 months and it had been blessed.

I feel so privileged to have been able to reunite them with the ring, and this will add a happy story to its history.

Thank you for a very generous reward.  A share of that will go to the Life Flight Trust Ambulance.

Lost Ring in Surf .. Newport Beach, CA. .. Found 5 days later

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)

Tuesday  Oct. 9, 2013

I got a call from Ted asking me if I could find a ring that he had lost while boogie boarding at a local beach. I needed to know the details before giving it a try. When we talked, I asked him what time of day and the best location he could give me. We determined it was during high tide which gives me a chance.  He was straight out from 34th St. which narrowed the search area. He did not know when the ring slipped off his finger. I forgot to ask what type metal because that does make it easier when there is a lot of metal trash in the search area. With that information I thought I could give it a try with the next low tide.

I got to 34th St. an hour before low tide. I started a grid search half way down the slope working 35 -40 yards towards the water into ankle deep water.  I worked my way south for more than hour till I was directly out from 33rd St.  Then I returned to 34th St. working north to and from the water. I only found about 5 targets, a few coins and a couple pull tabs. Then when I was approaching 35th St.  I got a 12-28 reading on my detector. I seem to remember that this was probably a lead fishing sinker, but I dug it anyway. It about 7pm and dark, I could hear the nice sound of metal hit the bottom of my scoop. I reached in the scoop feeling the ring.  I was not sure it was Ted’s ring because I didn’t have a flashlight, also it seemed small for a man’s ring . When I got back to my vehicle I saw the inscriptions matched and was his ring. Plus it was a nice platinum .950, that’s why it sounded so good when it hit the bottom of my scoop.

Ted met up with me the next day to get his ring. He told me that he had not told his wife it was found. He was on his way home to surprise his wife. They had also been researching the purchase of a replacement ring. I only wish I could have been there when he showed it to his wife. I’m learning that the wife’s of guys that lose their rings are more upset than the husbands.

Here’s Ted’s story from an email he sent me:

Hi Stan,  Thank you so much again for finding my ring.  When I got home, I didn’t tell my wife immediately, I just had it on my finger and sorta put my hand down next to her at the dining table to see if she would notice.  When she saw it, her mouth dropped open and she said “YOU FOUND IT?!”   It was a great reaction, I wish I had recorded it.

  My wife was pretty upset about me losing the ring.  Mostly for the sentimental value, since it was the ring she put on my finger when we got married.  The bible verse engraved on the band was the bible verse that was read at our wedding ceremony, and the date was the date of our wedding, so it had a lot of significance.
The day I lost the ring was actually a really good day.  In the morning my whole family had a great time at the beach with some friends who were visiting.  Awesome weather, got to have lunch at the beach.  I didn’t notice the ring was missing until late that evening, probably around 8-9 pm.   I thought it was probably at the beach since I had been boogie boarding and wiped out a couple of times, but really it could have been anywhere since it had been so long since I had seen it.
When you called me that first day, I was a little skeptical that you would be able to find it, since I wasn’t totally sure I had lost it at the beach.  Plus it was a big beach!  But at least it was the first hope I had since losing the ring.  The next time you called to tell me you found it, I was totally surprised!
 I put a story up on Facebook about the lost ring, as of right now it has 71 “likes” and 34 comments.  People are amazed that you were able to find the ring after I had lost it!  My assistant, who is from China, thinks this kind of story would never happen in China and is amazed it happened here.  It is because you are such a great guy that I get to tell this wonderful story over and over again.
 Thanks again,  Ted
IMG_2721 IMG_2723

Men’s platinum wedding band reunited with owner in chicago, IL

  • from Las Vegas (Nevada, United States)
Contact:

 

The ring was lost while cleaning out the back of his SUV. He had just transported a grill and it had some residue in the back that he was sweeping out with his hand. I searched the area that he told me that the ring had landed in. He said that he saw it bounce off the grill and it landed in a very specific area. Two and a half hours later, having gridded the area numerous times, NOTHING! I even hunted in all metal. Dug lots of junk.
I basically was giving up and walked over to tell him. The ring was sitting right on the surface in a completely different area!

image image

 

Lost my Texas Aggie College Ring while Toilet Papering a friend’s home!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
Contact:

IMG_1541     photo 1      photo 2

We got a email from a young man who on Saturday evening was having some innocent fun with friends and lost his Texas Aggie College Ring.   I responded quickly to the email and called the man and we chatted about where the ring was lost, what kind of ring it was, and the address where the ring was lost.   He told me that Saturday evening he had been playing football in the front yard of a friend’s  home and his ring flew off and he could not find it in the thick grass.

We set a time for us come out, this was 3 days after he lost the ring.  He was there to meet us.  I ask him to show us where he was standing and how he threw the football.  He looked at us and said well the truth is we were here “Toilet Papering” my friends home and then he pointed up!  We looked up and the trees still had toilet paper waving around.  I told him I thought it was great he could have that kind of fun, we had a nice laugh and began to search.  It did not take long before Ellen hollered “Is This Your Ring!”,  he jogged over to where she was and was so excited.  Ellen is 2 for 2 on our last hunts! It is so great to be able to enjoy this hobby with my spouse of 39 years.

Another successful hunt for The Ring Finders!

Don & Ellen Wilson – The Dallas Ring Finders!