A call out came in from Lisa for an extremely sentimental 18k Mother Mary medallion which was lost in a Brampton, Ontario backyard over a year ago.
Lisa’s Nephew Matthew had searched googled and came across the global directory for TheRingFinders!
I met up with Lisa after work. Lisa explained she was picking pears in her backyard when the wasps came out of the hive. She ran away and somehow broke her gold chain with two medallions on it. Matthew was able to find one of her medallions but not the other.
I started my grid search in her backyard with my new Minelab Manticore metal detector. It took a while digging out every signal as I was not use to my new machine.
I managed to locate the medallion 4” down approximately 7’ over from where her Nephew found the first medallion.
Here is the video of the recovery. Please like & subscribe 💞
Lisa was very happy to receive the gifted Mother Mary medallion back as it was a treasured gift that belonged to her late Cousin.
Elaine & Adam arrived home to Bracebridge, Ontario after celebrating Christmas with Family outside the Toronto GTA area.
During the Christmas holiday break there was a massive blizzard hitting Canada from the west coast, right across the prairies, into many parts of Ontario as well as the United States.
After Elaine & Adam parked their car in the neighbours driveway, Adam set up a tripod and camera to capture the snowfall with themselves showing the height of the snow accumulation. I was a beautiful photo! They then broke through the 6’ high snowbank at the bottom of their driveway and proceeded to the front door falling numerous times due to the depth of the snow.
When Adam noticed his wedding band was missing they spent the whole day clearing snow outside but gave up when it was dark and then called you.
I received and text from Elaine and called her immediately to set up a date and time.
After my half day of work I proceeded directly up to Bracebridge, set up my gear at the back of my car, walked over to the starting point where Adam set up the tripod / camera and wouldn’t you know it, I spotted the ring 7’ away in ice on the roadway!!
I started the video interview with Elaine and moved right into the surprise recovery and reveal! Shear disbelief!
Check out the video and the reaction here;
What an incredible feeling and how lucky we were to find it before the next snow clearing event!
I am so honoured to help Elaine & Adam recover this sentiment wedding band but I too was blown away at the extremely generous donation they made to the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation! They made me cry because I really felt my work was valued! They not only received their precious wedding ring back but also received a tax receipt for the donation!
Thank you so very much Elaine and Adam! It was such a pleasure to help on the misadventure of your wedding band!
Craig and his Husband Alex were preparing for the upcoming festive Christmas season.
Craig was busy in the backyard trimming some evergreens and trimming this years Christmas tree. An hour went by and after sitting at his computer he realized his 4 month old wedding band was missing.
Craig figured his wedding band must have come off his finger in the backyard prepping the Christmas tree. He googled metal detectors and The Ring Finders directory popped up.
Ring Finder member Paul wasn’t available so I sprung into action.
I started grid searching the backyard and figured that with the weight of Alex’s matching wedding band I had to search the entire back yard due to trajectory.
Thank goodness I expanded the search because the ring was in the very back of the yard hiding in behind a small Buddha statue!
Check out the video and Craig’s reaction!
Craig and Alex are extremely happy and I thank them for the wonderful dinner and the generous donation to the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation. Craig also receives a tax receipt!
Received a text from Marc to say his Wife Mona lost her wedding band in their backyard in downtown Toronto.
Mona was throwing out her coffee press grinds in the backyard and put her left hand in to clear the remaining grinds.
Unfortunately, Mona’s gold replacement wedding band flew off her finger. She heard a ping and concluded the ring landed somewhere in the leaves.
The registered Toronto ring finder was not available and I was happy to fill in.
Mona and Marc had recently viewed the Toronto CityTV news segment by Audra Brown on TheRingFinders and felt they had hope!
When I arrived, I took my gear into the backyard and while entering the backyard, low and behold I spotted the gold wedding ring immediately laying flat between the black stones!
I proceeded to do the interview then immediately surprise Mona with her beautiful Cartier 18k gold Love Ring! It was priceless! My record to recover a ring was 14 seconds! Not sure how I’ll beat this record!
Check out the video of the ring recovery;
Thank you so very much Mona and Marc for your very generous donation the the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation!
Three to four months ago Liz was throwing out a rotten jalapeño pepper over a fence into 15’ high thick cedar bushes. She watched her silver and gold ring fly off her hand in the same general direction. Liz searched for days and a few months and wasn’t successful in finding her ring.
Liz purchased her ring while visiting Portugal ti attend her Grandmother’s 100 Birthday 7 years ago! So the ring had special meaning to her.
Two weeks ago Liz and her Husband were watching Toronto CityTV news reporter Audra Brown’s segment on the global organization called “The Ting Finders”. The showed a couple of my ring recoveries and the charity aspect! Liz’s Husband said, this is for you!
After initial contact, I made arrangements to visit Liz in the small town of Bolton early Saturday morning!
Liz had shown me the area she threw the rotten jalapeño pepper and had cut back a number of lower cedar branches to get better access. Liz also mentioned that the silver ring was quite large, heavy and very loose on her finger!
My first thought was the trajectory of the rings path because of the weight. My second thought was the ring could be stuck up in the crooks of the upper branches.
First pass on her side of the cedars was unsuccessful which took approximately 20 minutes. I then proceeded down the back side of the cedars which was on her neighbours property and BINGO!! I heard the high tone of sweet silver! Looked down and saw the rim!
I walked back to the other side and surprised Liz immediately compared to my usual slightly drawn out way!
Check out the video of the surprise!
Thank you Liz for calling upon me to help and for your donation to the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation! Thanks to Audra Brown’s CityTV news segment on “The Ring Finders” we were able to save Liz’s sentimental silver and gold ring!
I was contacted by James way back in late February of this year inquiring if I could search for his lost wedding band and what the process is. The 18k English gold wedding band was lost within 15m of the edge at a specific spot into Professors Lake in Brampton, ON. His wedding band was actually lost 16 years ago!
I explained that I would need special permission to search that area of the Lake and I would start early to mid summer if permission was received.
I reached out to James in early June and was connected to his Father-in-Law Brian who is a local resident in the area of the Lake.
After weeks of trying to obtain permission I received the go-ahead from Commissioner Parks prior to his retirement.
The next day I had teamed up with James’ Father-in-Law Brian unbeknownst to James and we proceeded to the area. I was also very grateful for my work colleague Carlos for keeping an eye on the situation as I deemed Brian my water safety spotter.
With-in 20 minutes of entering the water, pulling out old pop cans, a glass jar, fishing lures and garbage, I heard the sweet tone of gold on my underwater metal detector. I pulled out the underwater pin pointer and zoned in on the lost wedding band. WE FOUND IT!!
Check out the video of the entire process;
Next day I met with Brian and proceeded to FaceTime James pretending to ask more questions about the lost wedding band. We completed the task of surprising James with much surprise and delight. James then planned to surprise his lovely Wife on their 17th Wedding Anniversary day while spending it with Family. It was priceless!
James had also inscribed the wedding band with “What was lost is now found”. Beautiful.
Thank you James for your charity donation to The Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation! This is part of my pay-it-forward program as I don’t take a reward. The donation assists breast cancer patients with financial support for items such as medicines, wigs, rent or food on their table! I am truly grateful for the benefits from my work place.
Had an emergency call from a girlfriend I hadn’t seen in a couple of years as she lost a very sentimental ring into a Georgian Bay lake in beautiful cottage country of Muskoka, Ontario. (respecting her privacy / area not to be named)
She tossed a line into the water to tow her SeaDoo back to the dock. Unfortunately her ring flew off her hand into 15’ of cold water. She had the smarts to immediately note two landmarks and called me immediately!
I was excited to head up to her location with brand new gear to test out along with finding her precious ring.
I made arrangements for the following weekend even though waters were roughly 12C. I met her at the marina and headed to her beautiful home!
All my gear was set up, checked and off I went with her as my spotter. My new DIve BLU3 Nomad Hookah system worked great alongside the new underwater metal detector the Nokta Makro “Legend”, and my underwater circular gridding tool.
On the 3rd outing after I moved my circular gridding tool closer to shore, I had a solid double tone! I was hoping this was it because I was starting to get cold! Second grasp of silty debris and I had the beautiful ring!! Now the surprise…
Check out the video;
I came up and handed over my gridding tool and detecting, went into her dock area and then the surprise!! Priceless! She was absolutely thrilled!!!
I am extremely grateful for the incredible donation she made to the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation as well as her wonderful hospitality!
Brampton residents Kultaran and her husband joined a group of Friends at a beautiful cottage retreat near Coboconk, Ontario on beautiful Shadown Lake of the Kawartha Lakes Region!
Shadow Lake is known for exceptional boating and fishing but is a very weedy lake.
The couple could not meet me on site as they had plans but we received permission from the gracious cottage owners whom the Husband assisted me by being my safety spotter.
I attempted the recovery with a lazy “D” grid pattern using the DIVE BLU3 NEMO hookah system which has a 10’ hose depth. Unfortunately, I had to switch to my scuba gear after 1 hour as I had deeper depth to move out to. Within 30 minutes I was able to locate the ring in 1 1/2’ of muck!!
Next, came a phone call to surprise them that I located and recovered his stunning 18k white gold massive wedding band! The 11 diamonds were sparkling!
Check out the video of this incredible recovery;
Few days later I met up with Kultaran to return her husbands stunning wedding band!
Thank you Kultaran for your generous donation the the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation for my “pay-it-forward” program! She receives a tax receipt from the Foundation!!
Story of lost ring leads to another reunion, 25 years after loss at Lake Sikome
Chris Spronk searched repeatedly for ring his mother gave him on her last Christmas
Pamela Fieber · CBC News · Posted: Oct 02, 2020 3:00 PM MT | Last Updated: 24 minutes ago
Chris Spronk, left, and Kevin Niefer at Lake Sikome earlier this week. Niefer, a member of Ring Finders in Calgary, found Spronk’s long-lost signet ring there about 25 years ago. (Submitted by Kevin Niefer)
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Calgarian Chris Spronk read last weekend about the return of a precious grad class ring lost 37 years ago in Calgary — found by a member of a metal detecting group called the Ring Finders — and it reminded him of a terrible loss in his own life.
He decided to reach out, and posted something in the comments section of the CBC Calgary Facebook page.
The ring he lost 25 years ago, while tossing a football at Sikome Lake, was very special to him.
“I lost my mom when I was young, when I was 20 years old. And the Christmas before she passed away, she had all of the gold that she had ever worn or owned in her life melted down and designed into these two rings — one for me and one for my brother,” Spronk told theCalgary Eyeopener.
“They were, you know, signet rings with our initials carved into them, with raw gold in the background — very distinctive rings. So it had a lot of meaning to me. And, you know, I wore it proudly.”
Two years later, Spronk lost the ring at the manmade lake in Fish Creek Provincial Park.
Chris Spronk, left, with his mother Brenda and his brother Brian, on the last Christmas they shared together. Brenda Spronk, who passed away months later in 1993, gave each of her sons each a ring that Christmas, made from her own gold jewelry. (Submitted by Chris Spronk)
“Unfortunately, stuff happens,” he said. “I was throwing a ball, I looked down, and the ring was gone.”
For 25 years, Spronk says, he thought about the ring every time he drove past Lake Sikome in southeast Calgary. He and his brother Brian, who understood the personal value of the ring, returned to the lake many times to look for it, even using metal detectors and screens to sift through the sand. Eventually, he lost hope.
“I’d given up on this ring long ago, just because it was gold and if it was found, it was going to be melted down,” he said.
Then last week, Spronk read the story on CBC Calgary’s Facebook page. He’d had no idea a group like Ring Finders existed.
“I was genuinely happy for the person, to see something like that returned, and just kind of put an off-the-hip comment saying, ‘Oh, that’s really cool. You know, I lost a ring in Sikome 25 years ago. Maybe I need to wait another 12 years for mine to come back,’ or something like that,” Spronk said.
Chris Spronk, moments after being reunited with the ring he lost at Lake Sikome 25 years ago. (Submitted by Chris Spronk)
Someone on the page encouraged Spronk to check out the Calgary metal detector’s club Facebook page.
He made a request to join, and outlined his story on the club page.
“The admin at first kind of said, not a chance, never going to find it, the sand has been changed there, it’s been 25 years,” he said. “I know it was a long shot, a huge long shot. But she also tagged this fellow, Kevin. And 10 minutes later, I got a message from somebody I didn’t know, named Kevin.”
Spronk opened the message from Kevin Niefer.
“I may have your ring,” the message read.
The personalized message engraved in the ring that Brenda Spronk gave to her son Chris. When Kevin Niefer found the ring, he knew it would have been special to whoever had lost it. (Submitted by Kevin Niefer)
Niefer, a local realtor who has been a metal detectorist for 30 years, joined the Calgary Eyeopener to describe his side of the events, which started with him finding the ring at Lake Sikome about 25 years ago on a routine outing.
Niefer said he has “a few hundred” rings in his collection — but this one stood out in his memory.
“It just rang a bell because it was so unique at the time. And the inscription inside said, ‘Chris, love mom.’ And I’m just going, ‘Wow, poor guy.’ I remember finding that and going man, that’s pretty brutal, to lose that.”
‘Most guys just melt them down’
Niefer said he has kept the ring in his collection for 25 years. He has never been one to melt down the gold he finds while out with his metal detecting gear.
“Most guys just melt them down or pawn them off, and I’ve kept them over 30 years,” he said. “It just didn’t feel right, I guess, to do that, to melt them down.”
And Spronk, now reunited with his ring, is grateful for that.
Chris Spronk on the Christmas in 1992 when his mother gave him the gold ring with her initials engraved on it, made from her own gold jewelry. Chris lost the ring two years later at Lake Sikome. (Submitted by Chris Spronk)
“You know, it means the world. It’s this gratitude that I can’t express, just the fact that I do have it back and just the emotions that I’m feeling because it was so unexpected, so unplanned,” he said.
“And just I’m thankful for people like Kevin because it shows there’s good in the world. There’s people with integrity, there’s people with conviction that stand by things like this — that want to see good.”
