Just before noon Saturday June 5th 2021 and my home phone rings. I don’t recognize the number and I expect another one on those calls telling me my car is out of warranty, but something tells me to answer the call rather then allow it to go to the answering system. OK, I pick up the phone and on the other end is a young lady (Vicki) and she tells me that her husband has lost a gold chain that had a gold pendent and his gold and diamond wedding band on it.. I can tell by her voice that first – she is upset, and second – that she is not quite sure that she should be telling me where and what she has lost. She later told me that she was afraid that I would take the information and go and search for, find, and then sell her gold items. This can happen if you are NOT using a member of “The Ring Finders” and I commend her for her due dalliance.
She told me that two days ago she, her husband and their daughter were visiting a school play field on the west side of Syracuse. They had been there for a period of time with their blanket spread out and had been enjoying the day when a fight broke out near by in the park. It seems that the fight was a scuffle between some family members of another family, but Vicki and her husband decided to vacate the area ASAP so as to not get involved. As they were retreating, her husband, toting all the blankets etc., thinks he felt the chain fall off from around his neck as it was not there when they go to the car. They did not want to get back close to the skirmish so they went home and returned the next day to look for the chain, ring, and pendent. It was a small 15′ X 15′ area, but they did not find anything. Vicki then posted on a community Facebook page asking if anyone could loan her a metal detector or give her some information as to how to locate her ring, chain, and pendant, and someone told her about myself and “The Ring Finders”. I checked with my wife and our calendar and ask Vicki if she could meet me at the park a @ 2 pm.
At 2 pm we met and she showed me the small area. This area was full of clover and plantain and also was in need of being mowed. The ring and pendent would be totally invisible as they would have dropped down thru the grass clover and plantain, but still not be buried, just laying on top of the soil but under the grass etc. The chain might (should) be visible as the long chain would “droop” over the clover and plantain. I turned on the machine, adjusted for gold, and started to search. Well the park stood up to all parks around the country. The metal detector was giving me a target every few feet, but as 20 plus years of experience and a very expensive machine was telling me these were all pull tabs, coins, bottle caps, nails, and other associated junk. The pull tabs and copper wires have to be checked as they sound just like gold, but by using my pin-pointer, it told me if the target was buried below the soil or laying on top of it.
I checked the 15′ X 15′ area, nothing. I reworked the same area by working at 90 degrees, nothing. Time to expand the search area.
I talked to Vicki again and she said that before the fight broke out, her husband had been playing with their daughter in another little area just a few feet further to the north so I stared working this new area, and BINGO, up comes the pendant. Smiles, hugs, and tears. I put down a place marker where the pendant was and started to work out in a circle. 3 foot away, BINGO, up comes the ring. Now some really big smiles, hugs and tears. I expanded and work the rest of the area but could not find the gold chain.
I’m quite sure that the chain did droop over the top of the grass and clover and someone else could see it, picked it up and now has a gold chain. I explained that to Vicki and she is excepting that the chain is gone, but she is VERY HAPPY to have the ring and pendant back. I did tell her to check with the pawn shops close to the park as it very possible has been “Pawned”
