March 3rd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

On the weekend I was called out to Kinma Primary school at Terry Hills to help Andre search for his lost keys. I had Tony from Jewellery Rescue with me, so I figured with both of us covering the area we would have this job wrapped up very quick. Andre lost the keys while spraying weeds at the school. Myself and Tony covered the area Andre had been spraying weeds for 3 plus hours, with no luck. How could a large set of keys just vanish like that? If anyone does happen to pickup a set of keys (with a blue keyring) in or near Kinma Primary/Preschool, please contact me so I can put you in touch with Andre.

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Alex had this misfortune of dropping his wedding ring on the decking of the Manly Yacht Club. Somehow by sheer chance, the wedding ring managed to fall down a small crack between the wood decking, and into the water below. Alex mentioned that at the time the ring dropped, it was high tide and about 5 ft deep. I met Alex at low tide, and he showed me exactly where the ring had dropped through the crack. I figured this would be an easy 5 minute job, but as it turns out I would be very wrong. The area where Alex’s wedding ring had dropped, just happened to be an underwater junk yard! There was so much metal in area the ring dropped that trying to use the metal detector become frustrating. My only option was to start digging every signal, even signals I knew we’re not platinum. I just needed to get this junk metal out of the way. After close to two hours of digging I was exhausted. I had removed a huge amount of metal, but none of this metal happened to be the precious metal Platinum. Being frustrated, and knowing the ring had to be close by, I mentioned to Alex I would attempt a second search free of charge. This time I came with more man power, Tony from Jewellery Rescue. Both myself and Tony spend another 2 hours digging without any luck. If any other metal detector guys happen to find a Platinum wedding ring under the Manly Yacht Club, please contact me. Alex is happy to pay a reward.

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Last week I had a chat with Robert who claimed to have some information that someone from his fiance’s family may have thrown two rings in a pond… one of these rings being a platinum diamond engagement ring. The rings went missing about 3.5 years ago, and Robert was not sure what pond the rings we’re thrown in. Of course I mentioned to Robert that the chances of recovery with the little information will be almost impossible. To put Robert’s mind at ease, he wanted me to come out and search an area he thought the rings may have been thrown. I drove out to Cecil Hills, which is a suburb south west of Sydney. The moment I hopped in the pond I realised there would be little hope of recovering the rings as I sunk knee deep in mud. After 3.5 years, the rings would have sunk well beyond the depth of my detector. None-the-less, I covered the areas Robert thought the rings may have been. After about 2.5 search, I was exhausted with no rings to be found.

February 23rd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

I am currently searching for a White Gold Wedding ring at Clovelly Beach. The ring was lost Monday Feb 22nd, while Dave was swimming from the steps. (not the beach) The ring has an engraving of a small tear drop on the inside. The inside is polished, while the outside has a dusty look. The ring is quite large, and could have been spotted by scuba divers or snorkelers. If anyone has managed to pick up a ring matching this description, please please contact me ASAP! The return of this ring is incredibly important to Dave as his wife recently passed away. I will continue the search for this ring until it is found.

While searching for Dave’s wedding ring, I managed to find 3 other rings in the process. 2 of them are gold wedding bands, and the other silver. If anyone has lost a ring at Clovelly Beach which looks like the rings in the photos, please contact me so I can organise their return.

February 13th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Derek had this misfortune of losing his wedding ring while in a swimming event at Shelly Beach Manly. Apparently there was up to 4000 people in this event, so things we’re very hectic at the start of the race when Derek felt his wedding ring get knocked off his finger. A few days later Derek gave me a call asking if there is anything I can do to help? He believed he was in about chest deep water when the ring fell, but this was at low tide. I mentioned to him that rings lost in water are always difficult to find, but I was more than happy to give it my best shot. I grabbed my scuba gear and underwater metal detector and met Derek at Shelly Beach. It was a beautiful summer day, and the water was clear and calm which made the job enjoyable. After 3 hours of scanning the area Derek felt the ring might be, we had no luck locating his ring. I was able to find 3 other rings, and Derek eyeballed a gold wedding band just sitting at the bottom of the water. So we ended up with 4 rings in total, just not the correct ring If you believe you are the owner of the rings in the photo above, please contact me as I would love to return these to their rightful owners. If anyone does happen to find a plain white gold wedding band at Shelly Beach, please contact me.

February 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Narrabeen Lagoon

I always enjoy a challenge when it comes to metal detecting. Some jobs are simple, and it literally takes me minutes to recover the lost item. But this has been a tough summer for the “Metal Detector Man”! Under water jobs are always difficult for too many reasons and variables to list. Which means my recovery rate for such jobs it low. I always mention this to my customers before starting a new job. I am not trying to talk myself out of business, but I like to be realistic. Here are some jobs below which had disappointing endings..

• Sam was attending a wedding that myself and Layne Beachley had to sneak around to get to a harbour side beach her ring was lost. The word soon spread via the wedding guests that Layne Beachley had lost her engagement ring, and she had hired the metal detector man to try and find it. The following weekend, Sam was at his friends holiday home throwing a ball in waist deep water. After diving for the ball, Sam believes this could have been the point when the ring fell off. I drove up to the central coast (Bonnels Bay) to search for Sam’s lost wedding ring. After a good 3 hour search covering the area with both my metal detectors, we decided to call it quits.
• Jan had this misfortune of losing the keel off her boat in the dirty Parramatta River. Jan knew of the area where she believed the keel to have dropped. Because it was a metal keel, I decided I could try searching for it with my under water metal detector. It wasn’t until I arrived to the spot I realised how bad the conditions we’re. The water was literally brown…with zero visibility. In fact I could not even see my air gauge pushed up against my mask. Anyway, I wasn’t going to let this stop me…I did my usual 360 degree rope search covering a 20 meter diameter. A few big signals but none of them the keel. After a couple of hours searching in darkness I ran out of air. If anyone has an idea or a service which could help Jan recover her 250 kilo keel, please contact me!
• Paula lost her diamond engagement ring at Narrabeen Lagoon. I actually had 2 attempts at this job, but could not perform the search with any sort of efficiency while my underwater detector was in for repairs. My 3rd attempt was a couple of weeks later, armed with my repaired detector. After completing both a north-west, and east west grid search of the area following my ropes, I was not able to find Paula’s engagement ring. If any metal detector guys to manage to find a diamond wedding ring at Narrabeen Lagoon, please contact me. Paula is more than happy to offer a generous reward.

January 31st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

The last handful of jobs have proved to be very challenging. It is always sad for both me and my customer when I am unable to find their lost items.. below are some searches that we’re unsuccessful

• Sarah lost her engagement ring at Bondi Beach. She felt her ring come off in about chest deep water. I mentioned to Sarah my underwater detector is currently away for repairs, and perhaps asking one of the underwater metal detecting guys at Bondi Beach for help. (Bondi Beach is being detected almost 24 hours a day) Sarah contacted Tony from Jewllery Rescue who faced the same problem as me, no underwater detector. I ended up driving to Miners Den at Parramatta and hiring an Excalibur 800 water proof metal detector. We met at Bondi Beach that night in the low tide. There was a fierce electrical storm happening so the beach was almost empty. I spent about 1.5 hours searching the area Sarah had been swimming. After digging up the usual coins and pull tabs while getting smashed by the surf, Tony attempted to brave the night sea. After more searching and having the earphones removed from his head by waves time after time, Tony too gave up after giving it his best. Sarah’s ring is lost in a difficult position, too deep for up right detecting, and too rough for scuba diving.
• Paula lost her diamond engagement ring at a lagoon at Narrabeen. So far I have made two attempts searching for this ring. First time it didn’t take long at all to realise I needed to use scuba gear. Second time I came back with Scuba Gear and my hired detector. The hired detector stopped working so I scanned the bottom just using my pinpointer and eye sight. I plan on going back to search for Paula’s engagement ring once I get my metal detector back from repairs.
• Amanda lost a ring that was a gift from her boyfriend while fishing near Richmond. She felt that the ring may have fallen off as she cast her fishing rod. She did say she heard a strange splash and was not sure what it was. We could not decide if this could have been her ring as her hand would have been clenched around the rod when casting. I searched the water anyway, but unfortunately came up empty handed.
• Joey lost her engagement ring at a beach near the Bouddi Bouddi national park on Australia Day. She had spent the day playing cricket on the sand, and swimming in the water. At the end of the day she realised her ring was no longer on her finger. I searched the sand where they had been playing cricket, then hopped in the water at low tide trying to find her engagement. After many hours of trying, we gave up hope of finding Joey’s lost ring.
• After reading the story in media regarding me finding Layne Beachley’s lost engagement ring, Linda decided to give me a call to see if I could help her. Linda actually lost her gold ring over a year ago, possibly while gardening in her backyard. She and her husband hired a metal detector but did not manage to find anything. I drove up to Avalon to meet Linda, and basically searched her entire backyard for the ring. I did manage to find a lot of things, but her gold ring was not one of them

January 23rd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

The last couple of weeks have been tough.. many recovery jobs have been unsuccessful due to various circumstances…

• Emma from Coogee had her sentimental Silver Ring thrown out of the window of her apartment by a toddler. I tried without success searching the garden below her apartment. When throwing a coin out of the window to replicate where her ring may have landed, we noticed the coin had to wiggle its way down between lots of trees/branches/leaves. I have a feeling the ring may have hooked itself in the leaves on the way down.
• Jason may have lost his platinum wedding band in the sand of a lagoon at Narabeen. He recalls removing the ring when putting on sunscreen before leaving home. He thinks he may have put the ring in his pocket, and the ring may have fallen out while changing into swimmers. I covered the area Jason and his family we’re situated in the sand, but regretfully I came up empty handed.
• Nathan lost his platinum wedding ring at Balmoral Beach while swimming opposite to the Bathers Pavillion. Nathan was not conscious of the ring falling of his finger, so there was a large area the ring may have dropped. After two attempts at searching the water I had given up hope. If anyone is to find a platinum wedding ring with a heart shape engraving please contact me. Nathan is offering a $500 reward.
• Joanne sadly lost her diamond engagement ring somewhere close to the north end of Coogee Beach. The ring went missing from her bag which also contained 2 other rings. I am not sure if someone has stolen the ring, as you would think they would take all 3 rings. But it is strange that just the diamond ring went missing. After a long careful search of the area I was not able to find Joanne’s engagement ring
• Ryan lost his platinum wedding ring while swimming in a waterhole out near Wedderburn, south west of Sydney. After a trek through the bush we eventually found the water hole, which was quite spectacular. What wasn’t so spectacular we’re the conditions at the bottom of the water hole. No visibility, rocks, crevices, huge logs and tree branches. It was impossible to scan the bottom with the metal detector with any sort of efficiency. But as always I gave it my best shot. It was great meeting Ryan and his friend Shaun, was definitely an adventure.

In summary, recovering something as  small as a ring can be both easy and impossible depending on the circumstances and conditions. The reason for updating the website with unsuccessful recovery jobs is to be upfront with new customers that I am not a miracle worker. Although, sometimes miracles do happen

January 7th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Tuesday was a busy day for me, with 6 missing rings needing to be reunited with their owners. First job for the day was Brett’s wedding ring (previous entry), which turned out successful. Not long after recovering Brett’s wedding ring I received a phone call from Adis. Adis lost his wedding ring at Whale Beach, about an hour north of Sydney. As I was driving to Whale Beach, I received another phone call from Jasmine. Jasmine had also lost her wedding ring, and she too was at Whale Beach. When I arrived at Whale Beach, I met up with Adis as he explained to me what happened to his wedding ring. Adis put the ring on his towel as he applied suncream. When his kids came out of the water, his wife lifted the towel not realising Adis had left the ring on it. I figured this would be an easy job, but after searching the area many times over with 2 different metal detectors I could not find the lost wedding ring. Even Adis used one of my metal detectors as I searched with the other. I said to Adis I needed to go and help Jasmine who was patiently waiting for me to search for her lost wedding ring. At this point I was approached by another lady who asked if I could help find her wedding ring too. 3 lost wedding rings at the same time, this was getting weird. Anyway, Jasmine had not moved from the area she had been sitting all day. Her wedding and engagement ring we’re in a zipped pocket in her bag, with keys and wallet. Jasmine reached into the bag to give her sister her wallet. It seems that the wallet must have folded and grabbed the two rings. Jasmine found the engagement ring in the sand next to her towel, but the wedding ring was no where to be seen. I searched the area Jasmine had been sitting. No wedding ring to be found. We worked out the path Jasmine’s sister had taken to the car. It was a long walk, and it would take me a few hours to grid the entire area. I mentioned to Jasmine I would search the area, and give her a call if I manage to find the ring. Jasmine was surprisingly calm, saying it is not the end of the world. Adis on the other hand was very desperate…so I went back to his area and continued expanding the search perimeter. In the mean time, the other lady who lost her ring mentioned she found hers, and not to worry about helping her now. I spent the rest of the afternoon searching for both Adis’s and Jasmine’s wedding rings without any success. The following night I went back with Tony from Jewellery Rescue, and we basically grid searched the entire half of the beach to no avail. If anyone does happen to pickup a wedding ring at Whale Beach, please contact me so I can put you in touch with Adis and Jasmine. Adis’s wedding ring is white gold, with G&G engraved inside, while Jasmine’s wedding ring has Jasmine and her husbands name engraved inside the ring. My day would not end yet…

January 6th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Nancy and her husband spent Christmas Day at Nelson Bay. Unfortunately the day ended badly with Nancy losing her watch which was a wedding gift from her father. Nancy put the watch in her pocket before riding down the Sand Dunes. After a few slides down the dunes, Nancy reached into her pocket and noticed the watch was missing. A couple of days later, myself and good friend Tony from Jewellery Rescue drove out to Nelson Bay to meet Nancy and her husband. Nelson Bay is normally well out of my area of service, being over  a 3 hour drive. But I could hear how desperate Nancy sounded over the phone, and did not have the heart to say I couldn’t help her due to distance. After a quick drive from the 4WD tour company that takes people to the dunes, we we’re at the spot Nancy believed she lost the watch. Tony and I got to work, slowly and methodically metal detecting the steep sand dunes. I was actually expecting to dig many signals on these dunes, as people would be always losing rings coins and car keys, but only silence from our detectors. After about 3 hours plus of an exhausting search, we we’re unable to locate Nancy’s gold watch. My feeling is the heavy gold watch has sunk deep into the soft sand dune, well beyond what our metal detectors could reach. Nancy and her husband we’re very disappointed, as we’re Tony and myself. But we did give it our best shot. I really hope someone finds the watch some day and hands it over to the 4WD tour company.