Oregon ring lost Tag | The Ring Finders

Wedding ring lost/found in an Oregon yard

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)

I received a message from Tamy saying she had lost the wedding ring she had worn for 43 years while doing yard work.
The first question I asked was how confident she was that it was actually in the yard. She replied “60 to 70%”

Being that we are practically neighbors, I made the short drive to her home the next morning. Tamy and I walked through the events leading up to the loss. She said she had placed both her rings in her pants pocket, along with her cell phone. She filled two containers with birdseed and walked through the yard to fill the bird feeders in an area below the lawn. She then walked back into the yard, doing a couple of small chores as she went. During her time in the yard, she had taken her phone out of her pocket, but wasn’t sure where that had been. We agreed on the most likely locations to search. She went inside to work, and I began a systematic search of the thick lawn and bordering plants.
I was about a hour and an half into it, only hitting targets much too deep to be a freshly dropped ring. I began thinking I was taking the wrong approach.
About then, Tamy came out with her two beautiful shepherds to check in. I told her I thought it was unlikely she had dropped her ring in the area I had been searching since her hands were full and she wouldn’t have been using the phone. She recalled talking with her sister on the phone after filling the bird feeders, while walking through the yard and past a particular landscape feature.
I decided to focus on the area of yard between the bird feeders and the afore mentioned feature. Soon after I started, Riker the shepherd came over to help. (Actually he was bringing sticks to try and get me to play) A short time later, I hit a faint but promising sounding signal in the grass. I couldn’t see anything, so I used my pinpointer, I located the target, moved the thick, green grass, and there it was.
Tamy was in the house, so I sent her a message asking if she could come get the dogs.
She came out and I told her “I’m 100% sure the ring is not in the yard.” She looked disappointed until I held up her ring and said, “Because it’s right here.”

It took her a second to realize she had her ring back, followed by a series of “Oh my gods”, then a big hug.
We walked back into the yard so I could show her where I had found it, and she told me the amazing story husbands proposal and the history of the ring.
It’s always awesome to help someone find something so special. I also got to meet a neighbor and make a new friend.

Wedding ring lost in Oregon basement, recovered with some teamwork

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)

I received a message from Sam, saying he had found me on theringfinders.com, asking if I was available for a call to explain his circumstances regarding his lost ring.

He told me that over a month ago, he had been going up the stairs from his basement and felt his gold wedding ring slip off his finger. He heard it hit the concrete floor, roll a bit, then it gone. He had searched through the miscellaneous boxes that were stored under the stairs, purchased a pinpointer and cheap “snake camera” from Amazon, but hadn’t found the ring.

I explained the difficulty of metal detecting inside a house, but told him I would bring a few different tools and try my best to find the ring.

We set up a time for me to meet him at his home in Portland. I loaded the search tools I thought would be useful (bright flashlight, Manticore, pinpointer with a discrimination mode, and my ring simulations).

Meeting Sam, he walked me through how he lost his ring. I started with the pinpointer under the stairs, finding only nails. I used my endoscope camera to look into the cracks and gaps in the concrete floor, and nothing. I pushed out the search area, looking under the furnace, water heater, and a freezer. Zip.

Pretty discouraged, I went through the details again with Sam. Based on his confidence, I dropped one of my copper rings simulators onto the stairs. Three out of five times, it rolled towards a gap in the concrete below the stairs. My pinpointer hardly fit into the hole, and the signal I heard was questionable. I ran the camera in and saw a slight reflection. Moving it around, there was a definite gold shine in the dirt. I could get one finger into the hole, and could definitely tell it was the ring, but couldn’t get it out.
Sam was searching with his Amazon detector under the stairs and saw me focused on the hole in the concrete. I told him I had his ring, but couldn’t get it out of the hole. He was able to use a set of chopsticks to extract the ring from it’s hiding place.

Persistence pays off, and a ring found.