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Lost Wedding Ring in Trophy Club, Tx while digging a trench in his yard!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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On Sunday afternoon we got a call from a gentleman who had lost his wedding ring.  He had been working all day in his yard digging a trench to relieve some standing water.  After completing the several hour project he realized his wedding ring was gone.  He and his family search for 2 hours and had no luck.  He found “The Ring Finders” website and gave us a call.   We spent about 20 minutes covering the area which was crazy with signals due to a power line running under his backyard.  I decided to re-check the trench with full descrimination, looking only for gold.  I got a hit near the end of the 15ft trench about 6 inches down.  As  I bent down and used my pinpointer through the mud and water in the trench I saw a glint of GOLD in the hole.  The wedding ring was stuck in the wall of the trench about 4-6 inches down.  I turn and ask the homeowner,  I said, “I have a questions for you” “would you like to have this back and I handed him his ring“.

He and his wife were so excited they could not believe we found it… they kept saying “you guys are good, you guys are so good“.  The wife came out and gave us hug… it was another successful hunt for the “Dallas Ring Finders”.

Don & Ellen

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Lost 3 Ring Wedding Set Raking Leaves in Backyard, in Cedar Hill,Tx

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We received a call from Christine about 3pm on Sunday afternoon.  She got our name and number from a friend she had told that she had lost her wedding set of 3 rings.

Christine lives on about a acre of land, she had gone out to the back of the property to help her husband bag up some leaves that he had been raking together.  They worked together for about a hour and finished up and carried the bags of leaves up to the garage about a half acre away.   That was when she realized that her Wedding Set (3 rings) was missing.  In a panic, she and her husband looked all over the yard, they dumped the leaf bags out but did not see anything.  They spent several hours looking with no luck.   Later in the day while talking with her friend, she told her about the lost rings.  Her friend said, wait a minute I heard about this website of people who find rings.  She Googled and found “The Ring Finders” website and called Christine back and gave her our number.

It was about 3pm when Christine called and she lived 41 miles from us.  I told her we would be there in about and hour & a half.  We needed to hurry as I was concerned it would get dark and it was already quite cold, and the darkness would only make it colder.   We arrived and got our 2 Garrett AT Pros and Pinpointers out then Christine walked us to the back of the acre of property.  She showed us all the places she walked and was helping her husband with the leaves.   Ellen and I chatted about what area we would grid off visually and began to detect.   Within 10 minutes I hear Ellen say “Here’s One”,  I joined her as we looked through about 4-6 inches of leaves in a pile but nothing else rang up on the detectors.   I told Ellen to keep looking and I ask Christine to show me the bags of leaves, my thinking was that if one ring was in the pile of leaves that they had been bagging then it was likely the other rings would be in the bags of leaves near the garage.   I began to scan the full plastic bags of leaves with my detector and got 3 very light hits.   I kept scanning but nothing else hit so I backed up to the bag with something metal inside.   I tore a small hole in the bag and began to stick my Pinpointer into the bag.  As I got a signal, I used my hand to begin pulling out whatever the metal was.  1st hit was piece of wire, the second was a metal screw and the 3rd hit I could not see it.  Finally I saw a glint of Gold in the bag.  I began to smile but had to fight the leaves to find it, and finally the smallest of the 3 rings rings was found.   Christine was standing right beside me and could not believe I found it.  Now the only ring missing was the most expensive, the diamond solitaire with several small diamonds around the band.   After determining that nothing else was in the 4-5 bags of leaves, I walked back to the rear of the property and told Ellen that I had found one but that one was still missing.  She had been working out visual grid and I went back and started back over the grid working the opposite direction.   I made several passes checking every 2inch or less hit that I got regardless of the type of signal.  Then I got a shaky 44-46 hit that was very weak,  as I was checking everything I almost kept going but thank goodness I did not.  I reached down and moved the leaves and grass and there it was, the diamond solitaire twinkled at me.  I reached down and picked it up and ask Christine, “Would this make you Happy!”  She and her husband were so excited and grateful.  It is so much fun to see the reaction of our customers when we are successful.

So 3 rings, 1 in the leaf pile, 1 in a trash bag a 1/2 acre away and one in the grass 5-6 feet away from the 1st one.

Another successful hunt for “The Ring Finders”.

Don & Ellen Wilson – Dallas/Ft Worth

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

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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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!

 

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Lost my Wedding Ring Playing Volleyball!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a email from an very nice young man who was in a little bit of a panic.  He was playing volleyball  with his team at the local “Bump & Drink Volleyball Club” and realized his wedding ring had come off sometime during the evening.  This was about 8pm, he had spent the next 2 hours on his hands & knees with his friends going through the really deep sand on the court he had played on.

His wife is 8 months pregnant and he really dreaded going home without his wedding ring and then having to tell his wife about it.

He found “The Ring Finder” website and sent us a email.  I responded immediately because I knew exactly what Volleyball Club he had been at, we had been called in before to find rings for other customers.  I immediately call the club and spoke to the manager, most of the Volleyball clubs are very strict about not allowing detectorists on to their courts, but this manager remembered us and said we could come in the next day 30 minutes before they opened.

Ellen & I arrived at 3pm on a Friday and began our hunt.  Understand this sand is awesome, but it is 12-20inches deep all over the 8 courts.  We had to use our beach scoops as we detected.  We knew what court he had played on and where he had wash off the sand at the end of the night, so we began our hunt.

We cover the court 3 times with no luck, I began covering the area I believed the customer would have walked to the wash off station”aka water hose!  Understand that Ellen & I both use Garrett ATPro’s and Garrett Pinpointers, I was digging in the sand and Ellen walks over and says “what did he say his ring looked like”, as I looked up she had this sheepish grin on her face and on her finger was a Platinum Wedding  Ring.   I started to get up, and she said don’t stop looking this might not be his ring!  We have had that happen more than once, we found a different ring than the one we were hired to find.

Well the customer was on his way, he was stuck in Friday afternoon Dallas 5pm traffic..YUK!  When he arrived, we shook hands and I said “my wife has a question for you”  she walked up and said “is this your ring”.  He was awestruck, his mouth dropped open, he was so excited.  He must have told us 3 times how much his wife was going to be happy…

This hobby is so much fun.

Another successful hunt for The Ring Finders!

Don & Ellen – Dallas/Ft Worth

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Local Man Hunts Your Lost Treasures in Newark, OH.

  • from Newark (Ohio, United States)
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Newark man searches for treasures

Baughman uses metal detecting to reunite people with lost jewelry

NEWARK — Jon Baughman could be considered a modern-day treasure hunter.

But he isn’t in it for fame or fortune. He’s most interested in reuniting people with lost jewelry that is important to them.

For several years, Baughman has spent his spare time using metal detectors and other gear to search for rings in Licking and Franklin counties.

“They are a person’s most precious item, especially when they are passed down from generation to generation,” he said.

“I enjoy giving peoples’ lost treasures back to them.”

A Utica resident, Baughman was inspired to learn about metal detecting from his wife’s grandfather, Ed Collins, and his father-in-law, Jim Jolliff.

Whenever the three men get together, they enjoy going out to parks with their metal detectors and seeing what they find. Baughman has also participated in several seeded hunts, where participants compete to see who can find the most items buried in the ground.

When he discovered the website, theringfinders.com, Baughman found a way to turn his interest into a business.

Theringfinders.com is a large database of metal detecting specialists so clients around the country can search for a ring finder in their area.

“The main thing is they are willing to help you out,” he said.

He joined the site in February 2012. Last year he got about 20 calls. So far this year he’s gotten six.

A calibration tech at Abbott Laboratories, Baughman keeps his gear in his truck so he can respond to a call as soon as possible. He travels with several metal detectors, including one that’s hand held, shovels, and scoops to search in sand and water.

Although he doesn’t search for lost jewelry in people’s homes, he’ll search any outdoor space, including beaches, parks, lakes and yards.

When customers call, Baughman tries to get as much information about the ring or piece of jewelry as possible. He needs to know where they lost it and how long it has been missing.

If it’s in a public place, such as a parking lot or a park, he has to move quickly. If it’s on private property, he has to get permission to search the area.

When he’s searching for a ring he uses his metal detectors, putting small flags into the ground behind him so he knows were he’s been.

If the jewelry is buried, he has to dig for it, using his hand held detector.

“I’m there to help them and search everywhere I can,” he said. “I keep talking to them and get some more details and some new (information) pops up.”

Baughman works on a reward basis but charges a $30 call out fee to every customer to cover his travel expenses. If he finds the ring, it’s up to the client to decide how much he gets as a reward, he said.

Some of his customers have thrown their rings after a fight with their fiance or spouse. Others have lost it swimming or had it fall out of their pocket.

One woman called him to help her find her husband’s wedding band, which fell off his finger when he was pulling leaves off a rake. She was thrilled when he was able to find it.

He also was able to help a man in Gahanna who lost his ring playing football with his sons and a woman in Mount Sterling who lost two rings in a barn.

Although he’s had many successful finds, there have also been times he couldn’t find the ring.

Some have sunk to the bottom of the lake and others have been picked up by someone else. But he never gives up the search until the customer tells him its over.

“At least they have closure,” he said. “When you have something that’s lost, you want to know if it’s there or not.”

While he’s hunting, Baughman often comes across lots of metal objects, from cans and pop tabs to horseshoes and bottle caps. He picks up what he finds and stores it in a bucket in his garage.

“I was in Scouting, and we leave it better than how you find it, so I always pick it up,” he said.

When it comes to ring hunting, it’s important to be patient and thorough, Baughman said.

“Practice is the biggest thing and knowing your equipment,” he said. “There is a lot of detective work.”

His favorite moment is being able to tell someone he’s found their ring.

Once he returned a class ring to a woman who hadn’t seen it in 29 years. She was so happy she cried.

“You always get that rush when you find one,” he said. “I always get a big smile on my face because I know I made them happy.”

ajeffries@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8544

Twitter: @amsjeffries

October 07, 2013

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20131006/NEWS01/310060029/Newark-man-searches-for-treasures

About this series

“Aces of Trades” is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs — whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.

Looking for something?

For more info about Jon Baughman, call 740-334-7293 or go to theringfinders.com/Jon.Baughman/#us-oh-newark

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Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

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Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers' lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

 

Jon Baughman often finds himself digging up trash instead of precious rings and notes the variety of objects he finds from old horseshoes and bent spoons to beverage can pull tabs. Baughman pockets all trash he finds and disposes of it later. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

Jon Baughman often finds himself digging up trash instead of precious rings and notes the variety of objects he finds from old horseshoes and bent spoons to beverage can pull tabs. Baughman pockets all trash he finds and disposes of it later. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

 

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers' lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

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Lost my Ring while Playing with my Dog!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got call from the gentleman above who said he had lost his ring in the backyard while playing with the dog at friends home.   The challenge on this hunt was the it was 102 degrees in Dallas that day, it was miserable.  My wife and I arrived and began the search with our Garrett ATPro’s and we began in the area where the customer said he thought it was.

We searched for about 2 hours, gridding out the yard, going through the flower beds we were having no luck.  I ask the ring owners wife if he could come home from work and show us exactly where he was and exactly what  he did with the dog.   He arrived about 20 minutes later.  He stood in the yard and said I did this and my son & I looked at each other and knew what had happened, the ring was slung back to the other side of the yard when the man threw the toy for the dog.  My son found the ring in about 10 minutes.

The customer and his wife were thrilled, we were soaked, and sunburned, but happy!

Another successful hunt for “The Dallas Ring Finders”

Don & Ellen with help from our son Tripp

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My Daughter Lost my Key Fob Somewhere on our Street!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call about 5:30pm from a customer that we had help several months ago, her daughter had lost daddy’s very special knife in the high grass.  We were able to find it and created a happy customer.

This same lady’s neighbor’s daughter grabbed her mom’s car keys and ran through the yards of about 5 homes chasing a dog and then ran back to her house.  Now you need to understand these are hugh yards, 100-200 ft across per yard.  All the neighbors and family had been looking for 1 key and key fob that had fallen off.

Our previous client came home and heard about the keys and immediately said “I know who to call, lets call “The Ring Finders”,  she gave us a call and explained what happened and we said let a us grab a quick dinner and we would head that way.

We arrived and chatted with the owner of the keys, the little girls dad, the little girl was in bed being punished for losing mom’s keys.   He explained where she had run and told us we had permission to scan all 5 of his neighbors yards.  Ellen & I got our Garrett ATPro’s and began to search, some areas were very thick grass.  About 5 minutes after we started my son and his girlfriend arrived to assist.  Sometimes just more eyes in a situation helps, it was starting to get dark.

We all spread out and it 5 minutes I hear my son say “Found It”  we all ran to him, including the owner and all his neighbors, my son was not even using a detector, just walking and looking.  As I told him, son we do not care how it gets found only that it gets found.

Everyone was happy the father said it would have cost him $300-$400 per replace the key fob for his wife’s car.

So from a referral comes another successful hunt for “The Dallas Ring Finders”

Don & Ellen with assistance from Tripp & Shannon

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Lost Wedding Band while Tube Fishing at Lake Lavon,Tx

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We received an email from Crystal after she did a exhaustive google search to find someone to help her husband find his wedding ring.  Her  husband Aaron had been tube fishing on Lake Lavon in Texas all day long.  He had no idea where he lost the ring and I think really did not expect us to find it.

Trying to coordinate schedules for us to make the hour drive out to the lake took several days, so today when we all arrived at the lake the ring had been lost for 9 days.  We arrived about 9am and met Aaron & Crystal,  remember he was very unsure where he lost the ring, in fact he thought it was probably out in 20-25 ft deep water where he had been tube fishing.

Aaron showed us the area where he and his buddy cleaned the fish in a picnic area.  Ellen & I got out both of our Garrett ATPro’s and began the search.  Aaron and Crystal took a walk down the beach while we were detecting.  We had only been there 20 minutes when we spotted the Silver Carbonite Wedding Band.  We could not believe we found it, this was one of those searches you go on almost knowing its going to be a long shot at best.

BUT, it turned into a awesome day.  Ellen & I walked down the beach and Aaron & his wife spotted us and began walking back our way.  As we got close to them I said “Boy the lake is really low” instantly you could see their faces get a little sad thinking we had not  found the ring and already given up.

THEN, I said, “Aaron let me ask you a question, would you like to have this back” and I held up his ring.  As you can see in the pictures, they were ecstatic and could not thank us enough.

What a wonderful hobby we have and the joy we get to bring to people when we find their lost item.

Another successful hunt for “The Dallas Ring Finders”

Don & Ellen

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Another Lost Ring.. Laguna Beach, CA.. Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I had just found a 56 year old ring for Marco about 20 minutes before and was only about a block from where I found Marco’s ring.  David came walking up to me and I figured he wanted to ask me ,”What’s the best thing you’ve ever found ?” I hear this 5 or 10 times a day when I get out before everybody leaves the beach.

David did look a little serious and he asked me if I could find a platinum ring he had lost the night before. I told him this is what I do and it should be easy if he was sure of the general area. This is what he told me. He was sitting on a stair step and fiddling with his ring(kind of rolling it with his other fingers) when it popped off right in front of him in the dry sand. He could not find it that night. The next morning he came directly to the place where the platinum ring slipped off his finger. This time he had equipt himself with a bucket, shovel and a sifting tool. David had excavated a 5 foot square area down about 8 or 10 inches and all the sand that had been sifted through the screen was piled up on  a rock. He was very organized and said he had spent more than two hours working his project.

I thought possibly the ring could have got buried too deep to find, because of the amount of sand that was moved. Trying to stay possitive, I searched the pile of sand and the excavated area. Then I did a couple passes of the coil just 3 or 4 ft. to the right of his digging. Right away there was a hit. A nice strong signal and up popped a beautiful platinum ring when I dug it with my scoop. I will not try to retrieve it with my fingers, because I know it is almost impossible. It just keeps slipping through your fingers..  David could not believe that it was that far away from where it dropped. He and his wife Kimberly were very happy to have their ring back and promised to recomend The RingFinders to all their friends and customers. They own a business in Laguna and have seen me on the beach before but didn’t know about our service.

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Found Lost Wedding Ring in Lake Wilson in Weatherford,Tx

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call from the gentleman above late on a Friday afternoon.  Said he had fallen out of a boat on a small private lake in Weatherford,Tx and wondered if we would come try to find it.  I said we would be happy to but it would have to wait a week as were on our way to the airport to leave for vacation in Cancun for a few days.  I loved his response, he said “well it ain’t going nowhere”.  We agreed I would call him in a week when we returned.

As promised we called the following week and spoke with John about his ring, he explained that he and a friend were coming in from fishing on a small boat, he had stood up just at the moment his friend decided to pull the boat up a little higher on the bank.  When that happen, John lost his footing and fell into the lake.  He said he could feel his wedding band slipping off but could do nothing about it.  The waters edge was slippery and covered in algae and dropped off about 5-6ft in depth.

John found “The Ring Finders” website and located us.

Ellen & I drove 75 miles to the spot on the highway to meet John and have him and buddy lead us back on the dirt roads to where the lake was.  I set up my gear and went into the lake, it was amazing how deep it got so close to the shore.  John told me while I was in the water that he had used swimming pool cleaning poles to try and drag the ring up on shore and he also had a friend bring out his metal detector but no luck finding the ring.  I spent maybe 20 minutes in the water getting a feel for the area where John thought the ring would be.  I was getting lots of hits on my detector and using my water scoop was very difficult in the muddy bottoms.   As I went to change hands with my equipment my detector passed over a flat rock covered in algae  and my Garrett AT Pro went off loudly so I knew something was there.  I reached over with my hand and felt along the top of the rock and there was John’s wedding ring.  My wife and John had been talking along the bank and I said “hey John would you like to have your ring back?” and held up his gold wedding band .   He was flabbergasted, he said over and over “I thought I would never see it again”.  These reactions are what make this so much fun.

My wife was filming with her IPhone and began to ask John some questions.  He said this was the first time this ring had been off his finger in 57 YEARS.  He buddy then said, ‘tell them what you did’.  John replied with a sheepish grin, “I did not tell my wife”  he said I have a friend who owns a Pawn Shop who got him a temporary wedding ban to wear until we could hopefully find his ring.  We laugh and laughed.  Then John said…. “I wonder if the Pawn Shop with take the other ring back”.

It was a wonderful day.

Another great find for “The Ring Finders”

Don & Ellen Wilson

 

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