My parents took my 2 kids away to Canada for a long weekend. It just so happened to be my weekend off, so me & the Mrs. headed for Ocean City NJ. We found a nice place to stay Fri & Sat nite, 1 block from the beach. So we headed down early Fri morning. Stopped at Atlantic City on the way down to catch the Titanic Exhibit. Wow some really nice jewelry there. Sure wish I could find something like that.
The life guards leave OC beaches at 5pm on Fridays, so guess who was on the beach at 501pm. I took my XLT because low tide was earlier in the day, so I decided just to do the dry sand for now. No sooner did I step on the sand and turn on my XLT, I was approached by a crying 12 y/o girl. She asked me if I had found anything today. I explained that I just got here, and asked here what she lost. She explained that she lost a silver chain and a charm of St. Mary. I asked her if she had an idea of where it might be. She said yes. She had taken it off and put it on her towel, so she wouldn’t lose it in the water. Well she forgot that she did this and when it was time to leave she lifted her towel and shook all the sand of it. Oooopppppps.
I followed her to the spot. Searching in the sand were her mom, dad, sister and friends. I started to work a grid pattern. Boy the people who visit NJ beaches are SLOBS!! I found a ton of trash and 12 cents. We started to draw a crowd. After about 30 minutes the family thought I would never find it. They were going to leave the beach. I told the dad to give me the address of the place they were staying and leave a phone number. I told them I was only going to be there for 2 nights, they were leaving the next day. He did so, but I could see it in all their faces, they thought they would never see me or the necklace again. He offered me $5 for searching. I declined.
After they left I enlarged the search area. About 10 minutes after they left, guess what I found!!! If St. Mary wasn’t attached, I would have never found this chain. It was so thin!! Well I ran over to my wife and showed her. We left the beach, got changed and went to the boardwalk to make the phone call to meet up with the family. Darn, no-one home just and answering machine. I left my pager number.
The Mrs. & me were starving, so we decided to head to Mack’s & Manco Pizza on the boardwalk. Just as we were entering the building, I was approached by a man. He wanted to thank me for searching for the chain, it was the dad. I could only recognize him by his shirt. I said, we just called & left a message, as I pulled out the chain from my wallet. Well the girl was ready to cry again. Everybody was happy. They couldn’t believe I found it. We traded names, and phone numbers. I told them I might do a small article for one of the hobby magazines. We took a few pictures. The chain was from the girls 1st Holy Communion. She won’t be wearing it to the beach again!! Boy never had such a good feeling. This was my 1st returned item!!!
Tag Archives: how to find ring lost in yard
Head Over Heels in the Surf (August 2013)
After spending the morning at DeMarco Detector Sales getting a new detector to replace my Excalibur, I went to the beach to attempt a recovery.
I was contacted by a distraught woman, Danielle, who was walking in the water with her fiancé when she was hit by a large wave, knocking her down in the water. She was flailing about; fearful she was going to drown. When she got home later she discovered that her engagement ring was gone.
When I met Danielle & her fiancé Daniel, they had a map drawn up with an X to mark the spot they thought the ring might be. They were walking north in knee deep water 2 hours before high tide when the incident occurred. I was here as low tide was approaching, hoping the ring would be in the wet sand.
I started a grid pattern. While searching, it started to rain, great… 15 minutes later a beautiful rainbow appeared. I thought that this might be a good sign. Well, I searched north for a block and a half. I rechecked the area with no luck. While searching I was watching Danielle. She kept crying. She was very upset. I felt bad.
I decided to check south of where they thought they were. I went another half a
block, no luck. I have been searching for 3 hours and my arm was getting tired.
I said to myself I am going to give it 2 more up & downs. The next down I
found the ring. I had it in my scoop.
Dan & Danielle didn’t see me dig it. I started walking toward them looking beat & depressed. She said I can’t believe how hard you worked. Let me pay you for your troubles & asked if I could come back on Saturday to look again. I showed her my scoop and she saw the ring. She started to jump up and down & the tears were flowing. She kept hugging me. She must have hugged me 40 times. I told her that Dan is going to get jealous. Dan was just stunned
that the ring was found.
We took some pictures and they gave me a very generous reward. The looks on their faces was really the only reward that I needed. I love that feeling of returning lost sentimental items and watching their reactions of the people who lost the item.
I love my hobby!!
PS: The new detector worked GREAT!!
Below is a letter from Danielle:
On Friday August ninth my evening began like so many others and ended like no other…My fiancée and I went to dinner and we were having a wonderful evening; great food, music and drinks. We were discussing what day we should plan our wedding, where the location would be etc. Later we left the restaurant and the idea of taking a walk on the beach to watch a lighting storm over the ocean seemed romantic and appealing. Once there, we walked hand and hand…the sound of the ocean and waves lapping up onto the shore was just so beautiful…so beautiful I decided I was going to go wading around in it. It was now dusk, and looking back, it wasn’t the brightest idea in the world because when I turned to look at my fiancée one of those very waves hit the back of my knees which caused me to loose my footing and down I went into the surf…I struggled to get myself up but it proved so difficult Daniel had to trudge in and come to my rescue.
Soaking wet and humiliated I made my way back to the car, dried off, changed into some clothes, and headed home…that’s when Daniel said “Babe…your ring!” I looked down to fine only a tan line where my ring once sat. It was gone…washed away in the tide when I struggled so foolishly to gain ground. I was instantly heartbroken and quite honestly, hysterical. I didn’t know what to do.
The next morning I woke at dawn and raced
to what I thought was the location, and began searching. Up and down the beach I walked straining my eyes in hopes to find this ring that meant so much to me, defeated I left only to return in the evening with a three pronged rake…I dug, and looked and cried, still there was no ring. It had seemed the ocean had
taken it for her own and the sadness and guilt I felt only deepened.
Later that night I was on the computer…my ring of course being the only thing I could think about; I began searching lost rings in the ocean. As I scrolled through a sea of tales written about similar experiences I stumbled onto a site TheRingFinders.com, my curiosity was peaked.
Clicking through the links I finally came across the name Dave Milsted and I
thought to myself “It’s worth a shot to shoot him an e-mail…what’s the worst
that could happen, he won’t answer”? Before I knew it I was writing to explain
my desperate situation and asking for help. I clicked send and I waited. No
sooner did I write I saw there was a reply…and it was Dave! I nearly jumped out
of my chair I was so excited, I actually got a response and he was interested
in coming to my aid…I had a shred of hope, finally.
After a brief correspondence Dave said he would be willing to search out my ring and that he could come that Monday…the longest two days of my life I must say, but I was overjoyed that there was a chance that maybe, just maybe, I would find this diamond in the sand. Monday finally came and Daniel and I met up with Dave at the beach entrance in Brigantine. I was a bit nervous due to the fact that the sky was beginning to look a bit ominous. The dark clouds stretched out over the dunes and we moved fast in an effort to cover what ground we could. Daniel pointed out where he roughly thought I went in and as I stood at the waters edge I thought “I think I was here” a bit south from where Daniel had suggested but he insisted, and I was unsure so I went and agonizingly looked on as Dave began his search.
Tirelessly he moved back and forth through the water and along the beach
scouring the sand with his new detector (I later found out I was the first to
break this one in); it began to rain and I looked at the sky silently pleading
for it to stop so Dave wouldn’t…he didn’t; instead he only continued. Finally,
the rain eased up and a rainbow broke out in the horizon just over head of
where Dave was working. Daniel said “Look a rainbow” I smiled a little and
hoped it was a sign but one hour, two hours, three hours passed and still no
ring. It wasn’t here I thought.
At this point my Rainbow man was now working in front of me in the tide; I told Daniel I was going to ask him if he would come back Saturday to work the South side where he was now inching towards, I just had this burning feeling it was there. Daniel was insistent that it wasn’t down that far but I said “It will make me feel better if I know this whole area was covered.” No sooner did I say it I saw Dave approaching and I slowly got myself up to meet him. As I moved closer to him I began to speak but before I could say a word he shook his sifter at me; I looked down and there it was, my ring!!! Dave pulled it from the ocean, and truly blew my mind! I was stunned, ecstatic and absolutely over the moon! Daniel couldn’t believe it. I must have hugged Dave ten times in that moment!
August 9th was one of the worst
days of my life, however, August 12th became the day I will most
remember and I have no one else but Dave to thank for that. He returned
something precious to me…something I thought I would never see again. I’ll
forever be thankful to you Dave. You are an angel…not just to me, but to so
many others and you will forever be…
my Rainbow Man. Thank you!
Chasing Dogs!! (October 2013)
I received a call around noon on October 9th from Joan in North Central NJ. She was out in her back yard last night trying to get her dog inside. While in the struggle she lost her 30th Wedding Anniversary band.
She spent a long time in the dark with a flashlight with no luck. She had a friend come over today in the daylight and spent several more hours looking.
I was pressed for time and said I would be able to come up in about 8 days because of my schedule. She was worried about the lawn guys coming in a week.
I moved some things on my schedule and took the 1 hour and 20 minute drive. When I arrived Joan was not home. I gave her a call and she said she was 10-15 minutes away. She said to go into the back yard and start without her. She had marked the area that she though she lost it with a bag of apples. That was my starting point. 5 minutes later I had the most beautiful ring I have ever found in my hands, a platinum Tiffany’s ring with too many diamonds to count.
Joan arrived about 10 minutes later. I was sitting on her porch petting her dog. As she walked up I pulled the ring from my pocked. The reaction on her face was priceless!
Here is Joan’s story:
I waited thirty years for wedding band from Tiffany’s. I wore a wedding band that cost less than a $100 for years, switched to my mother’s wedding band after her passing, and when my mother’s band no longer fit I went without a wedding band for years. In the meantime, my husband was saving for a really special gift for our 30th anniversary, a wedding band from Tiffany’s. I had the ring less than a year, when one night I walked into my backyard to get my dog to come inside. The dog was busy eating an apple, and did not want to go back inside. I pulled at her collar, and with my left hand gave her a little push when off came the ring. I stood in the darkness and panicked. I marked my spot with a loose branch and raced to get a flashlight. Hours passed and I gave up. In the morning, a friend came over and along with my daughter we spent another four hours searching for the ring.
We all gave up and figured that an animal found it over night. It was gone. But my friend gave me Dave’s number, and he came over that afternoon. In less than five minutes he found my ring!
I also want to add that I wasn’t home when he arrived and told him to go into my yard and search for the ring. I arrived home ten minutes later and there was Dave sitting on my back steps petting my dog. He reached in his pocket and handed me the ring. What a feeling!
He is completely honest and competent.
Don’t waste time searching on your own. Call Dave.
Regards,
Joan
Don’t Forget The Sun Screen (August 3013)
I received a call on 8/1/2013 from John. His wife lost her diamond ring on the beach in Beach Haven (LBI). He said she was putting sunscreen on their kids, took her ring off and put it on a towel. She forgot about it. The tide started to come in and they moved their stuff.
It wasn’t till later that she realized that her ring was missing. It was white gold ring with a lot of little diamonds. It was given to her by her husband when she was pregnant with her first child because her wedding rings didn’t fit anymore. So there is a lot of sentimental value in this ring.
It was lost a few days ago, and they are worried that someone had already found it. Maybe a kid was digging and buried it deeper. Maybe the rise took it away.
Adam (my son) & I met them on the beach just after 7am. They had both kids with them and they were ready to play on the beach. John showed us the beach but didn’t have an exact location. So Adam started at one end and I started at the other end, we will meet in the middle.
Very few targets were on this beach. I got a good tone on my Minelab Explorer, said this has to be it. Dug it and looked in the scoop. Just a piece of tin foil. Bummer. Found several more pieces of foil. After about of 30 minutes another good tone at the high tide mark. Bingo! I had the ring.
We walked over to their encampment on the beach. Once Kristyna saw the ring she started to cry. John said he thought he was going to cry also. The look on their faces was priceless!! It’s such an AWESOME feeling returning lost items.
Lost 1980 Philadelphia Eagles Championship Ring (August 2014)
I received a call from Keith in May. He said he had lost his 1980 Eagles Championship ring while doing yard work. He was heartbroken and told me how much the ring meant to him. He has worn it since he received it 34 years ago.
Our schedules weren’t lining up. He was going away in a few days, and then I was going away. I told him I would come over later that day even if it was still raining out. We agreed on 1 o’clock in the afternoon. He gave me his information.
It was raining very hard at 1pm. I was prepared, raincoat with hood, rain pants and waterproof hiking boots. I brought my water proof detector Minelab CTX-3030. It was a nice size yard. The street in front of the house was flooded from all of the recent rain.
Keith showed me what he was doing the day he lost the ring. I thought if it is here it should be an easy fine. WRONG!!
Keith had trimmed all of the bushes & hedges, raked the entire property, put a lot of the debris in the street which is now flooded, started a mulch pile and planted new items in a flower garden. He remembers at one point looking at his hand saying this ring is giving me a blister.
I started in the easy sections, the open yard, nothing! I started moving to the different gardens. Uh-oh, they are all lined with iron to stop the roots from entering. Metal detectors love iron. It makes them sing. Even when trying to discriminate iron out of the range, there was so much it was hard to determine if there were any other signals. The machine I brought had an 11 inch coil on it.
I couldn’t search the street because there is metal rebar under the surface. There was way too much debris out there to shovel onto the grass. If it’s out here the leaf sucker is going to get it. I spent about 3 hours looking. No luck.
Keith was disappointed and so was I. I really wanted to return this ring. I have been an Eagles fan for too many years. What an awesome story this would have been. I offered to come back at a different time when the weather was better. We said we would keep in touch.
A few months passed and I called Keith. He was staying in his summer cabin and wouldn’t be back in this area for some time. I asked if there would be anyone around, because I didn’t want to be on his property without someone being there. He said his wife would be there this week and it would be ok to go over to look.
He had already started the inquiry of what he had to do to get the ring replaced. He needed approval from the Eagles & the NFL plus a police report.
I went over a few days later and met Michelle. She added a few other tid bits, like when he was done the yard work he traveled to North Jersey. My heart sunk. I thought to myself, that is why I didn’t find it last time. It’s not here.
I returned with and older but reliable machine, a White’s Spectrum XLT with a 3 inch coil. This is to help reduce the amount of signals from all of the iron in the gardens. I started searching the areas I couldn’t do in the rain, like the large slope of ivy in the back yard. The only thing I found back here were hundreds of mosquitoes.
I moved to the mulch pile, moving stuff around, nothing. I’m getting frustrated. 2 hours later the last things to check are the gardens.
I expected the ring to pretty much be on the surface. It wasn’t lost that long ago. I finally get a good signal at close to 3 hours from when I started. I climbed under the bushes and moved away the debris. Nothing. I dig about a half an inch down. Is that gold? I dig a little more. It’s the ring!!
I must have jumped about 10 feet in the air. The ring was very heavy, and very muddy. I went back to my truck and cleaned it up. Took many pictures, then I called Keith. When I told him that I found it, he started to get choked up. He couldn’t believe that I had found it. He told me that he thought that is was gone forever. He said someone told him to pray to St Anthony, so he did.
We made arrangements to meet a few weeks later when he would be back in town. He even let me keep the ring for 24 hours so I could show it off before I returned it to his wife. When we met we took pictures & he signed a few Topps Football cards that I had brought with me from his playing days.
Here is a letter from Keith Krepfle Philadelphia Eagles Tight End #84:
Dear Dave,
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for finding my lost 1980 NFL Conference Championship ring with your metal detector. I was reasonably sure I lost the ring while doing spring clean-up in the yard.
The day I called you in desperation for help, you came over immediately to try and find the ring. Although the weather was miserably cold and pouring rain, you nonetheless scanned the yard for hours trying to find it. I was obviously disappointed when you could not find it, however you said you would like to return in warmer weather to try again.
I was not absolutely sure I lost the ring in the yard, and for weeks looked everywhere but unfortunately it did not turn up. By summertime I had completely given up hope and contacted the NFL League office to inquire about replacing it (custom molds for all Super Bowl rings are kept on file).
Then out of the blue in August you called me again, offering (at no fee) to come back for another search. On your second search, to my unbelievable surprise, YOU FOUND THE RING! under a landscaping bush. I was so thrilled when you told me, I actually broke down and cried with emotion/thankfulness.
I cannot thank you enough for your dedication, honesty, integrity and persistence, and whole heartedly recommend anyone contact you for help locating lost items. You are truly and Angel of God!
Keith Krepfle Philadelphia Eagles- tight end
Back Yard Trouble (Wedding Band) May 2015
Back Yard Trouble!
Received a call from Katie. She told me that her husband lost his wedding band in their back yard. She found me by searching the internet and found Ring Finders.
I asked several questions about how it was lost. We decided on a date & time for me to search for the ring.
I arrived on a hot & sunny day in May. Katie’s kids were sleeping, so she said that she would be out in a few minutes.
I had Katie show me about where her husband was. She said he was in the driveway, cleaning out his car. He was throwing something when his ring came off. I had her show me the direction that he mad his toss.
I thought that I had enough information to start the search. The detector that I chose for this hunt was my Minelab CTX 3030 with a 11 inch coil. I started my search an the area was clear of trash.
1.5 minutes into the search I got my first signal. I moved the grass around and bingo, I had the wedding band in my hand.
I walked towards Katie & showed her the ring. She was amazed that I had found it so fast. I took a few pictures and headed home. Another successful recovery!
Here is Katie’s Version:
“My husband lost his wedding ring several months ago when it slipped off of his hand into the neighbors yard. We looked for it every time we were outside and finally gave up, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it knowing how close it was–virtually in our own backyard. I heard about Dave through a Facebook group and was elated at the possibility of finding the ring. Dave arrived and professionally introduced himself. When I took him to the yard he asked very specific questions about the events leading to the loss of the ring. I ran into my house to check on my son and within minutes Dave had my husbands ring in hand! Just like that, it was back and proudly on my husband’s hand. THANK YOU!”