Sunset Beach NC Ring Finder Tag | The Ring Finders

Grandmother’s Silver 1963 Nursing School Graduation Ring Lost, Found and Returned Sunset Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I received a call shortly after 3:30pm on Saturday, June 1st from Emily. She said she had lost a very sentimental ring in the soft sand and some locals recommended she call me. I told her I could be there in about 30 minutes, grabbed my gear and was on my way. On the way, I called Emily back to get some additional information. While I was talking to Emily, I had another call come in. When I finished the call with Emily, I called the 2nd caller back. That call was for a lost ring in the ocean and was time critical due to the changing tide.

Emily called me back as I was getting close to Sunset Beach and said her boyfriend was waiting by the street down the path from the beach access point. I parked and met her boyfriend who walked me out to the beach where I met Emily. Emily stated the ring was a silver ring that belonged to her grandmother. Emily showed me the suspected area, which was under a beach tent. I turned on the Nox 800 and searched the cleared area of the tent with nothing. I was moving toward the other half of the tent and asked if the chairs and a table could be moved. When the table was moved, one of Emily’s friends, TJ said, “Found it.” Not sure if the ring was sitting on top of the sand or got kicked up when the table was moved. So mission accomplished and Emily had her ring back. I headed out enroute to the next call.

Sunday, I text Emily back to get the full story of her ring that I didn’t get in my haste to answer the 2nd call. She graciously replied saying, “She had taken the ring off and sat it in her bag while working on a small art project to commemorate her and her boyfriend’s 1st beach trip together. The artwork involved glue, so she had taken her ring off and put it in her bag. Sometime later the tide came in and her and her friends were rushing to get the umbrellas and chairs moved higher on the beach. Her bag was knocked over in the process and she didn’t realize the loss until they made it back to the car.” She continued saying, “The ring was her grandmother’s graduation ring from nursing school class of 1963. Her grandmother passed in December and Emily has worn the ring every day since. Emily is completing nursing school and will graduate in the fall. She’s following in her grandmother’s footsteps.” The last thing Emily told me, that put this loss into perspective, was that “The ring may not cost much, but it is absolutely irreplaceable to me.”

Emily – Thank you for calling me. Good luck with your career and I’m sure your grandmother would be very honored and proud of you.

Jim

   

Lady’s 14K White Gold Engagement Ring Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Sunset Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

This adventure started with a Sunset Beach NC Face Book post saying in part, “on vacation and a friend had lost an important piece of jewelry, and we’re looking for someone that has a metal detector.” Someone responded to her post with my information. So, about 8:30 Friday night, I received a call from Victoria.  She started with telling me about the Face Book posts and was calling to see if I could help. I was ready! She also said the ring was lost in the dry sand, on the right side of the pier. She added that it was very unlikely the high tide would not reach the ring. I suggested we meet in about 30 minutes. I think Victoria was a little apprehensive about meeting a strange man, at night, on a dark beach, which I totally understood. She wanted to meet at noon the next day, which I had concerns with. Knowing that Sunset Beach is a big tourist destination in the summer, parking would be an issue. There would also be shoulder to shoulder people on the beach, at noon, on a Saturday. I also know that Sunset Beach is heavily detected by both locals and tourist. She understood, but noon it was.

I arrived about 10:30 a.m., figuring I’d be lucky to find a parking spot. Surprise, I got the last ‘free’ parking space on the Island, I think.  Since I had an hour and half to burn, I started detecting the beach. About 11:30 a.m. I text Victoria telling her ‘I was there,” and She immediately responded saying, “we are parking now.” We met up on the beach and Victoria introduced me to Jennifer, the young lady that lost her engagement ring. Victoria led the way across the top of the beach until we reached the area. Victoria had the presents of mine to tie one of her hair bows to a tiny bush growing up through the sand at the bottom of a sand dune. Jennifer wasn’t sure how far her ring may have flown off her finger when she had turned around while they were packing up to leave. I confirmed with Jennifer that I was looking for a white gold ring as I turned on my Equinox. On my second line, I got a solid 6 on my VDI, meaning ‘white gold.’ I looked over at Jennifer as I scooped up the sand. I gently shook the scoop to empty the sand out and saw some shells and Jennifer’s beautiful engagement ring at the bottom of the scoop. I walked over to Jennifer, held out the scoop, and let her remove her ring. She got a big smile on her face when she saw her ring.

Victoria – Thank you for contacting me.

Jennifer – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Jim