Its been a while and yesterday afternoon I was out doing some Christmas shopping with my brother who is from California when I received a call from a young lady. She said that her father had lost his ring. She ask me a few questions and said that her dad would give me a call.
I got the call minutes later and the man went on to tell me that he had lost 4 huge rings at his job site, they had dropped out of his pocket because the zipper broke. You could image how upsetting that would be as he wasn’t sure where they had fell out…I was excited to get out there and search for his rings but I had Christmas shopping to do so I rushed around and got it done and shot out to Maple Ridge to help find the rings.
I got to the job site at 5:30 pm and we talked about the possibilities of where he thought the rings could be, he told me that he spent 6 hours the day before searching and sifting the dirt for the rings and 4 hours the next day. He called his daughter and asked her to search the internet to see if there was anyone out there with a metal detector that could help… She found ”The Ring Finders”
I turned on my trusted Whites XLT and it was going crazy with the power line directly above me. I quickly went back to my truck and took out my new Whites V3i and set up the frequency and was able to program the detector to cancel out about 80% of the interference from the power lines above me.
After about 30 minutes the young man jumped into his backhoe and started to level out a big pile of sand so I could check it out and while he was doing that I went to another area where I got a good signal and started to dig…
Ring #1
What a sight to see when this came out of the dirt! We were very excited and hopeful that the rest would be close bye…
Ring#2
Only a yard away from the first ring…I knew the rest would show up close bye…
Ring #3
These were very large and heavy rings!
Ring#4
This was the biggest ring and what a great feeling to find all 4 rings, he said Christmas came early for him! I have to say that was fun! I think I found more gold then those guys from that reality show called Alaska ”Gold Rush”
Thanks for the kind reward!
I Love my Job!
Lost something? Call me ASAP! I’ll help you find it.
Sunday night December 4, I am sitting in my bed reading my favorite metal detecting magazine when I hear our phone ring at 10:30 pm. My wife’s mother was expected to call that evening so I assumed that that was who was calling. Within a few seconds I hear my wife walking up the stair talking on the phone. Diane hands me the phone and says it is somebody who has lost a ring. I answer the phone and Chris Tatum is on the other end, he is in the parking lot of a pizzeria where he has just lost his ring. He tells me that he has searched the area around his car but cannot find his ring and was wondering if I could come out that night and look for the ring. There are a couple inches of freshly fallen snow covering the parking lot and the temperature is 11 degrees. I realize that timing is critical because this parking lot will more than likely be plowed first thing in the morning. I let Chris know that I will be at his location in about a half an hour.
I get dressed, start getting my equipment together and then I have to explain to my wife why I am heading out of the house at 10:45 with my metal detectors while snow falling in bitterly cold temperatures. But we both agree that this search has to occur now so out the door I go.
I arrived at the pizzeria and introduce myself and Chris explains how he was wiping snow off his driver’s seat when he heard his platinum wedding band hit the asphalt parking lot. It was quite obvious where he and his wife had searched for the ring without any luck. I prepped my Whites XLT with Bigfoot coil and began my search. I began my search over the areas that they had searched by eyeballing the site. Soon I expanded my search beyond our original search area, still no luck. By this time my hands are numb and I need to get my gloves out. I continue my search beside a concrete wall that is loaded with steel reinforcing where I heard the definite sound of a ring come from my XLT. I carefully dug through the snow and got my hands on Chris’ ring. The ring laying under 3 inches of snow 20 feet away from where I had expected it to be. This search took only 20 minutes but it was a pretty intense 20 minutes due to conditions.
Ben Spiking was doing the typical fall yard work of racking up leaves and dead grass, bagging that debris and placing it for pick up. While cleaning up after his work he noticed that he no longer had his 14 kt white gold wedding band on his figure. He immediately began a search for his ring. He quickly pulled the bags of refuse from the back alley and placed them within his fenced yard. He
Ben's wedding band
started to empty the bags one at a time and carefully go through the yard waste. After three of the bags had been gone through leaf by leaf, Ben realized that going through the 8 remaining bags was going to be a daunting task and may be fruitless as well.
A quick internet search led Ben to Ring Finders and my profile page. Ben called my home phone and left a message which was relayed to me by my wife as I was in the mountains elk hunting at the time. Where I was camping there is no cell phone service but I had made arrangements to check in back at home every couple of days. My wife gave me the critical information and I called Ben’s wife Kim to set up my search.
I arrived at the Spiking’s residence and Kim gives me a quick explanation of what had occurred the day of the rings loss. I began my search with my White’s XLT with a bigfoot coil. I searched the whole front yard and then the path through the back yard to the gate. I search the remaining bags of yard waste and the area where Ben had searched through the first 3 bags of yard waste, no luck. I then made my way back to my truck and switched out coils to my factory 9 ½” coil and searched the front yard again. There was an area in the northwest portion of the yard with several pieces of shredded aluminum can and pieces of aluminum fascia were just under the surface of the ground. I pulled up several pieces of the aluminum but there was enough metal in the ground that pinpointing was difficult at best. Once again I head to my truck and switch to 4”x6” coil and head back the area with all the aluminum. After another 20 minutes search I found the ring. I spent just over two hours searching this yard, and even I was beginning to wonder if I could find the ring. But with the right equipment for all kinds of searching you can tilt the odds in your favor.
Received a call about a lost gold wedding band. Apparently, while throwing a football to his young son, his wedding ring flew off. They had searched for a day using a metal detector, but to no avail. I drove out to their house did a search in the backyard for about an hour. I found the ring and united it with the owner. Both the husband and the wife were very happy. I spent about another half hour showing his 3 children how to use my detector and all three found Pennies. It’s a great hobby for kids and I always try to encourage kids to try metal detecting.
I joined The Ringfinders back in August and have been busy finding peoples lost rings. It’s very rewarding to both my clients and to myself . If you have lost a ring feel free to contact me.
I received a call from Chris who lost his wedding band while setting up his camera to take some pictures of the city from Locarno Beach in Vancouver. The thing was he didn’t know when the ring came off, this makes it hard to locate the ring as the area could be huge.
After talking to Chris on the phone he new he had it on when he left his car and when he got back to his car it was gone. He sent me a google map of the area as he couldn’t meet me, this was a great way to get a feel for the search area and I felt confident I could find the ring.
20 minutes after a started my search I found his ring at 3:30 am near the top of the search area on the picture above…I love it when I get lucky and pick the right area to start the grid search. It could have been a much longer search!
I saw a posting on www.Craigslist.com Lost and Found section looking for help in locating a lost ring. Brian had been spectating the Ironman race the past weekend. After the race, he found a wooded area off of the route to change into some shorts. He then walked back to the race route, which ran directly past a rural house. Brian picked a spot in front of a driveway and encouraged others still running the race. Suddenly, Brian realized his ring was missing. He retraced his steps back to the wooded area, searching for his ring along the way. He did not have any luck. He wasn’t sure if he lost it while changing in the woods, or while watching the race. It was getting dark, so Brian grabbed a flashlight and continued hunting for his ring. He searched for awhile longer, but did not find anything. Brian was so mad at himself for losing his ring. To top it all off, he was from Illinois and had to return home the next day. This is when Brian posted an ad on Craigslist hoping someone else had found it while watching the race.
I responded to the ad offering to help. Robyn, Brian’s wife, replied back with a great image of a Google Map snapshot, including the area Brian was in circled in red. She indicated the main area to search was the driveway. My son and I made arrangements with the homeowner to stop out and search. The grass was longer than usual, so I could see how it would be hard to find the ring if it was dropped. After about 10 mins, all we had was $0.35 in change, a couple pop tops and a handful of other junk. Then, right in the area Robyn said to focus on, we got a strong hit on the detector … it was Brian’s ring! Someone must have stepped on it, possibly Brian while searching for it. It was about 1 inch underground, but was easy to retrieve. I then gave Brian a call to give him the good news, he was ecstatic. You could just tell the relief in his voice when I was talking with him.
This was a special hunt for me, as this was our first wedding ring search and return … we’ve been hooked ever since
I get an email yesterday that a lady lost 3 silver rings at the beach, after calling her I find out that she lost them the day before…So its been over 24 hours and I know that people search that beach of a night and early morning and the chances are that someone may have beaten us to the rings.
I meet with the young lady and her man and they show me the area the rings were lost, after a north, south grid search of the area I don’t find the rings. I now will ask my friends who hunt Kits Beach if they know anyone who has found them the rings and offer the reward to them.
As I was searching the area I had a man come up and tell me a young lady lost her ring and ask if I could help. I said sure and asked him to tell her to come over and she did, i told her I’d be over as soon as I finished my grid search.
I walked 50 yards over and met the young lady who showed me the area the ring was flipped off her towel. I started my grid search and after a minute or two I ask if she could move her bike so I could check near there…
Well there it was! Just inches under the sand right where her bike was. I was able to dig it up and surprise her before she knew I found it.
Every Ring has a story attached it and that story ends when it is lost…I love to help continue that story by finding it for them!
I love my job!
Lost something? Call ASAP!
Thanks for reading my blog, there is a video below of the search.
I was at work on a Monday and I received a call from a young lady who ask me if I could find her husbands lost diamond wedding band at Centennial Beach in Tswwassen BC. She told me that the ring could have been lost while he was playing volleyball or out in the ocean while he was swimming.
I met with Sasha that evening and before the park was closed she showed me the area that the ring could be lost in and it was huge! I got permission from the park ranger to stay and search the area for a few hours, Sasha went home and I spent 3 hours searching the dry sand and a little bit of the water. I had no luck the first night but I felt good that it wasn’t in the dry sand and I knew that it would be a long shot that someone already found it in such a huge area when the tide is out.
My wife Beverley came out a week later at low tide to help me grid search the wet sand, she was ready to go out and find the ring and the competition was on! I found a two dollar coin and yelled out that I did! Then a couple of quarters, some dimes and after 1 1/2 hours of a slow grid search I got another signal and found a nickel, and I yelled out to Beverley more change…A second later she yells out…FOUND IT! I’m thinking what? Then she yells out again…FOUND IT! I FOUND THE RING!!! I thought she was joking until i see her dancing in the ankle deep water .
I couldn’t believe it! It only took us 1 1/2 hours in a huge area to find the young man’s ring! This was amazing and Beverley was so happy! It’s a great feeling when you can help someone and this young couple told us that they had given up and were ready to claim it on their insurance.
It was nice to do another hunt with my wife and this was the first time we had ever been to this beach, we met a lady who was metal detecting the beach and we talked for a while, she told us that she was 90 years old! OMG!!! We still have a good 40 years of helping people find what they thought was lost for ever!!!
One other note…We got an email that night and someone had lost his wedding band at the same beach we found this one…Beverley found that one too at midnight!
