#YorkBeachMaine Tag | The Ring Finders

Gold Engagement And Wedding Rings Lost Swimming At Moody Beach, Wells, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
Contact:

🌊 Lost at Moody Beach! 💍

I received the following text on Sunday, June 28, at 5:36 PM:

“Hi Dennis! My name is Jillian, and I lost my engagement and wedding rings today at Moody Beach.

I believe they may have come off while I was swimming earlier this afternoon.

I heard from many people you were the guy to reach out to. I’m sorry for the Sunday evening text! These are pictures of the rings:”

⏱️ Race Against the Tide

To speed the process up, I immediately called Jillian back.

Jillian told me that she had been enjoying the last day of her trip at a friend’s beach house along with her husband, father, and a few others.

While in the water swimming and throwing a football around, she noticed her gold engagement and wedding rings were no longer on her finger.

🌊 The Search: Jillian, her family, and friends went back out as the tide was receding.

⏳ Time spent: They searched for two to three hours.

🔍 Equipment: Someone even searched with a metal detector, but all to no avail.

Jillian and her husband then had to return home to New Hampshire for work the next morning.

With the tide now coming in, I told Jillian I could be at Moody Beach at 5:00 AM for the 5:41 AM low tide.

Since Jillian had been in the water at mid-tide, arriving prior to the morning’s low tide would give Gary Hill and me plenty of time to search the area.

I sent Jillian an aerial view of the beach, and once she verified our target area, we were ready to go.

🌅 A Beautiful Sunrise & Double Signals

Gary and I arrived at Moody Beach the next morning and were greeted by a beautiful sunrise.

We decided to search north to south, moving vertically toward the water.

My Strategy: I started in the wet sand near where I thought the waterline would have been the prior day.

Gary’s Strategy: Gary started up near the seawall.

We both worked our way toward the water, with Gary covering the sections I skipped.

This way, we could cover the entire search area in three or four hours, but hopefully, we would find them in less time.

As we started searching, we weren’t finding many targets at all—it was a very clean beach.

I was finding an occasional pull tab and small pieces of aluminum.

Gary found a few coins but no treasure, except the treasure of the sunrise.

It was a very quiet search with very little digging until around the 40-minute mark.

Suddenly, I received a very strong low tone giving me two separate readings.Signal 1: 17

Signal 2: 29

This definitely got my attention. Two targets, both in the gold range, and two missing rings!

What are the chances of these being the lost engagement and wedding rings?

🎯 Found! Double Gold!

I thought they were very good, so I yelled over to Gary,

“I think I got them!”

I waited for Gary to arrive before I dug the targets. I threw the scoop full of sand up onto the hard-packed wet sand and let Gary use his pinpointer to probe it.

🥇 Ring #1: Once he located the target, Gary pulled out the engagement ring. YES!!!

Now to find the wedding ring. I swung my detector over the hole and found the second target was just outside of it

.🥈 Ring #2: Gary used the pinpointer to locate the target, put his fingers into the sand, and pulled out Jillian’s wedding ring.

Gary and I high-fived each other, smiling and laughing at our good fortune.

It was now 5:39 AM. I took a photo of the rings and texted it to Jillian, simply saying, “Got them.”Less than a minute later, I got Jillian’s reply:

“OMG, you’re incredible!!” 🙌

❤️ A Huge Relief for a Growing Family

I then asked her if there was someone at the house we could give the rings to.

Jillian replied, “I’ll have my Dad come out! I’ll call him right now,” and she then sent another text:

“He’s coming out. Thank you SO much! We even metal detected that side, you are incredible.”

Her excitement made Gary and me very happy. Soon after, we saw her father, Jim, making his way onto the beach.

Jim was also incredibly happy and excited, telling us he truly thought the rings wouldn’t be found.

Jim also told us that Jillian had been devastated and he was especially worried because she is expecting her first child in November! 🍼👶

WOW!!! We were so glad we got down here and found them just 15 hours after they were lost.

Jillian could now stop worrying and put all her energy into her pregnancy.

💌 A Few Days Later…

Jillian sent me another text a few days later saying:

“Good morning! I can’t say enough how much I appreciated your efforts and have been telling the story to everyone I know. Thank you so much again.”

😊Gary and I are still on cloud nine with this recovery.

Unfortunately, Gary and I were not able to meet Jillian ourselves to return the rings.

Jillian tells me she is now were her rings once again, after receiving them from her father.

Knowing we were able to help Jillian in her time of need and relieve her worry is a huge reward for us.

We have the best job in the world, and we love what we do!

🧲🏖️Remember: “If it matters to you, it matters to us.”

📞 Lost Something Valuable? Call or Text Dennis!

If you or someone you know ever loses a ring, keys, or valuable items on the beach, in the grass, or even in the water—please don’t wait!

Time is critical, especially with shifting sands and tides.

Call or text Dennis right away at  ⁨(207) 423-3027⁩

The sooner a search begins, the higher the chance of a successful recovery!

📈🔍Remember: “If it matters to you, it matters to us.” 🤝❤️

Tags:
Category:

Tungsten Wedding Ring Lost Swimming In The Ocean, Found With A Metal Detector, Old Orchard Beach, Maine

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
Contact:

🌊 THE RING SHOULD HAVE READ 50… IT READ 21. WHY? 🤔💍

The Ring Finders of Maine, With Recovery and Return #231

I received a call from Kevin late Sunday afternoon. He told me that approximately five hours earlier, he had lost his tungsten wedding ring while in the water at Old Orchard Beach. 🏖️
Kevin was not far from the Oob Pier lifeguard stand, right in front of the carousel at Palace Playland. He had lost the ring at high tide, and as the tide receded, he searched the area where it had come off.
After hours of searching, the ring was nowhere to be found.
As you all know, once a ring comes off in the surf, it settles under the sand and out of sight. 🌊⏳
Kevin wasn’t giving up, though. He asked the lifeguards what else he could do to find his ring. The lifeguards told him to call The Ring Finders of Maine—and here we are! 📞✨
I told Kevin that I could be down there in about a half hour, at 5:15 p.m., and Kevin agreed to meet me there.
He told me he would meet me after helping his wife get their four children back to the cabin they were renting for their week-long vacation in OOB. 🛖👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

🔍 The Search Begins
Once I arrived in OOB, I made my way down the beach to the area near the lifeguard stand.
Kevin hadn’t arrived yet, and not knowing the exact area where he lost it, I just started searching at the bottom of the beach bank slope.
As I finished my first pass without finding the ring, Kevin arrived. He said he wasn’t that close to the slope, and he sized up the area to establish the parameters of where I should search. 📐
I decided to grid search from the lifeguard stand to the carousel, going back and forth while working my way toward the water. 🚶‍♂️🔙🔛🔜
I started in front of the carousel as I made my way toward the lifeguard stand and pier. I received a few targets, including the storm runoff pipes deep under the sand.
The only non-ferrous item was a recently dropped quarter. 🪙
When I dug it up, I could see Kevin watching intently. I told him that this wouldn’t be his tungsten ring but would be a quarter. When I pulled the quarter out of the sand, he was impressed that I knew what it would be before digging it! 🎯

📱 Talking “Shop” & Target ID Numbers
I told him that modern U.S. quarters ring up on the Minelab Manticore metal detector in the 88–90 area on the Target Identification (TID) screen.
I told Kevin that his tungsten wedding ring should have a TID of around 45 to 55, although I have found them as high as the 60s. Size, thickness, and purity play a role, but for the most part, I find them in that 45 to 55 range.
I finished up my first grid pass, turned around, and headed south. Within a minute of this grid pass, I received a nice non-ferrous target of 21. 🤔
Lots of low-conducting metals can have a TID in the low 20s, including gold. I told Kevin it probably wasn’t going to be his ring, but it was too nice of a target to pass up.
I dug a scoop full of sand, and the target was out of the hole. I used my pinpointer to locate it, and once it was located, I was completely surprised to see a tungsten wedding ring! 🤩💎
I showed it to Kevin and asked him if it was his. As he took it from my hand and looked it over, he said:
“Yup, that’s mine. I can see the crack in it.”
AWESOME!!!! 🎉🥳
Kevin thanked me, shook my hand, and asked, “Can I give you a hug?” Of course! I love smiles and hugs. 🤗
Kevin then sent a photo of the ring to his wife, still smiling ear to ear. 📸😁

💡 The Science of Eddy Currents
I told Kevin that I really didn’t think a TID of 21 would be his wedding ring. But once I heard him say the ring had a crack in it, it all made sense! Metal detectors work like this:
Metal detectors rely on a phenomenon called Eddy Currents. 🌐
1️⃣ The Loop Effect: A metal detector’s search coil sends an electromagnetic wave into the ground. This induces circular electrical currents (eddy currents) to travel around the unbroken, continuous loop of a ring. ⭐
2️⃣ The Result: This unbroken loop creates a strong, secondary electromagnetic field that the metal detector detects as a highly conductive, solid object (giving you that clean 45–55 reading for tungsten). 🔋
3️⃣ The Break: The moment a ring is cracked—even a hairline fracture that goes all the way through the band—the continuous loop is broken. The eddy currents can no longer travel around the circle. 💥
Instead of detecting a large, round object, the metal detector now views the ring as a bent strip of wire or an open staple.
Because the electrical path is restricted, the detector perceives it as having drastically lower conductivity (hence the reading of 21!). 📉

⚙️ My Past Career Connects!
Now, for 26 years, I worked at Nichols Portland (NP) in Portland, Maine. 🌲
NP is a manufacturer of gerotors, among other things. Gerotors are powdered metal components that were prone to cracking if not handled properly.
Because Nichols Portland takes cracked parts seriously for both us and our customers, we actually used an eddy current machine (a crack detector) to detect cracks in our parts prior to shipping them out. Our reputation for quality parts was second to none! ✨
Eddy currents are nothing new to me, and as soon as Kevin told me about the crack, I knew immediately why the ring had such a low TID. 🧠
Sorry for my rambling, but I haven’t talked “shop” in five years since my retirement. Some things you just never forget! 🛠️👴

❤️ A Heartwarming Ending
As Kevin and I parted ways, I kept metal detecting as I walked down the beach and back to my vehicle. All of a sudden, I heard Kevin and turned around to see him running toward me! 🏃‍♂️💨
He held his phone up and said, “My children want to thank you for finding my wedding ring.” 📱
I saw four young children all smiling and thanking me for finding “Daddy’s ring.” 🥹
I told his children it was my pleasure as they waved to me over the phone.
It just doesn’t get any better than that. It warms your heart to know you’ve touched theirs. ❤️
✨ Remember: “If it Matters To You, It Matters To Us.” ✨
I have the best job in the world. I love my job! 🔍🏝️👑

Tags:
Category:

Sentimental Sterling Silver Ring Lost In The Sand, Found With A Metal Detector In York Beach, Maine

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
Contact:

🏐 Lost Ring at Short Sands Beach, in York Beach, Maine! 🏐

The Ring Finders of Maine, With Recovery and Return #230

On Tuesday evening, just after 8:30 PM, I received an urgent call from Andrew. 📱

His daughter, Kristen, had just lost an extremely sentimental sterling silver ring. She has worn this precious gift every single day since she was 14 years old! 🥰

This ring has traveled the world with Kristen, accompanying her on trips across three different continents. 🌎
Needless to say, it is irreplaceable.

Kristen had lost the ring just thirty minutes before Andrew called me. The family is currently on vacation and was enjoying some time at Short Sands Beach in York, Maine. 🏖️

While playing volleyball on the beach just before sunset, Kristen felt the ring slip right off her finger as she was serving the ball! 🏐💥
Andrew and his family immediately began searching, but they just couldn’t spot it in the sand.

However, Andrew made a brilliant move—he marked the exact area where Kristen was standing when the ring flew off! 📍

Knowing that precise location helps immensely during a recovery. 🧭

As they were searching, a kind person walking their dog on the beach saw their plight and gave the family my contact information. 🐕‍🦺

After checking out The Ring Finders of Maine Facebook page, they liked what they saw, and Andrew gave me a call. 📞

I told Andrew I would be there in approximately 45 minutes. He said he and his family would wait and continue their search. 🕒

Once again, thoughts of a beach cleaning machine crossed my mind. 🚜 I wasn’t sure if Short Sands Beach uses mechanical cleaners or not, but I didn’t want to take any chances!

Cheryl and I quickly packed up our gear and jumped on the Maine Turnpike , heading south once again. 🚗💨

It was now 8:45 PM and completely dark—but at least it wasn’t raining! 🌙✨

🕵️‍♂️ Under 30 Seconds to a Miracle! ⏱️💍

We pulled into the parking lot near Fun-O-Rama @ Short Sands Beach , and I called Andrew. 🚗

He immediately came over to Cheryl and me, walking us over to where his family was sitting in their beach chairs, patiently waiting. 🏖️

The family had brilliantly placed a volleyball at the exact spot Kristen had been standing when she served the ball and the ring flew off. 🏐📍

I explained my game plan to the family. I would start just in front of the volleyball and swing my detector back and forth, making my way toward Fun-O-Rama .

If it wasn’t found within 30 feet or so, I would then search behind the ball—just in case the ring slipped off during her backswing. ↩️

I started the search right near their beach chairs and began walking toward the water. Within just 10 seconds, directly in front of the volleyball, I got a non-ferrous target signal! 🔊

At first, it was a slightly scratchy tone, and the TID (Target Identification) was jumping around in the 80s.

That definitely indicated a high-conducting metal, right in the sterling silver range! 🪙 (However, modern quarters also ring up in the high 80s).

I used my foot to push some sand away and scanned the area again. This time, I got a very solid 88–90 on the TID! 🎯

Honestly, I thought it had to be a quarter. There was no way Kristen’s ring fell directly in front of where she was standing, just a couple of feet away… right? 🤔

I reached into the sand, fully expecting to pull out a coin—but it was the silver ring!!!

💍✨ Unbelievable!!!!

I raised my hand with the ring and held it up to show the family. 🙋‍♂️ I watched jaws drop and heard nervous laughter break out as the entire family rushed over to me! 🏃‍♂️💨

I handed the ring to Andrew, with Kristen right behind him. As soon as she saw it, she cried out that it was her ring! The smiles, high-fives, and pure joy instantly erupted! 🙌🥳

It is absolutely crazy—just 5 seconds after I started swinging the detector, I hit the target. The ring was back in my hand after just 27 seconds total! (Cheryl’s video helped me time this out perfectly!). 📹⏱️⚡

The entire family was ecstatic, telling me all over again just how much this ring meant to Kristen.

Kristen and her family thanked us repeatedly as she looked down at the ring, safely back on her finger where it belonged. ❤️
As we were wrapping up the celebration, a woman walking her dog strolled over. The family pointed her out as the incredible person who had recommended The Ring Finders of Maine to them in the first place! 🐕‍🦺

I thanked her for her amazing support and referral, and she smiled and told me, “I love what you do.” It is always such an incredible feeling to hear positive feedback from our followers and fans! 🥹🙏

All that was left were the big hugs before we said our goodbyes. Everyone was still smiling and laughing as Cheryl and I walked away into the night. 🌙

Now, this wonderful family can fully enjoy the rest of their Maine vacation without the heartbreak of a lost ring hanging over their heads! 🌲🦞☀️

🤯 Lightning Strikes Twice! ⚡🏐

Another ring is back on the finger where it belongs! 💍 For the second night in a row, we successfully completed an evening recovery in pitch-black darkness. 🌙

But here is the truly crazy part: for the second night in a row, a ring was lost while playing volleyball! 🏐😲

In my 25 years of metal detecting, I have found well over 500 rings. I’ve found them in the dark and I’ve found them around volleyball courts. But in a quarter-century of doing this, I have never been called in to specifically search for a ring lost during a volleyball game. ❌

Now, on two consecutive evenings, I’ve been called out to find rings lost while serving a volleyball—first in Old Orchard Beach, Maine (OOB), and now in York Beach! 🏖️💥
What are the absolute odds of that happening?! 🎲📊

Just remember: “If it matters to you, it matters to us.” ❤️

I truly have the best job in the world. I love what I do! 🙏😊

Tags:
Category: