Gold Ring Lost And Found Freshwater Beach
March 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell
Tuesday I was called out to Freshwater Beach to search for Dan’s lost gold ring. Dan had placed the ring on his t shirt, and when lifting his shirt the ring had fallen somewhere in the sand. Dan had an idea where the ring was, but frustratingly could not find it in the loose sand. About an hour after Dan’s phone call, I arrived at Freshwater Beach and found where Dan was sitting. He showed me the spot he believed the ring to be. After about 3 minutes of searching, I received a nice clear signal from my metal detector which was in the gold signature range. With the use of my pin pointing device, I was able to locate the signal which was indeed Dan’s lost gold ring. After some of the tricky and difficult jobs I have had lately, it was nice to have a quick efficient recovery 
Dan, thanks so much for your honesty and quick internet payment. Very much appreciated.
- No Comments »
- Posted in Lost Rings, Recovered
Last week I got a call from Alex who lost his platinum wedding band in his backyard at Greenwich (a suburb close to St Leonards on Sydney’s lower North Shore). Alex was hanging a tarp on the clothes line when he felt the ring slip off his finger. After many hours of searching for the lost wedding ring, Alex decided to call for my services. I figured this should be a 5 minute job, but as it turns out I would be very wrong. The moment I turned on my metal detector, the thing went crazy. I couldn’t work out why? I was looking around for power lines, and figured their could be underground power cables. After tuning the detector so it was somewhat usable, I finally worked out why it was spluttering. Not far away was a 170 meter tall television transmission tower. This was playing havoc with my equipment. I searched the area for about 3 hours with no success. Greenwich is only a 5 minute drive from my house, so I mentioned to Alex I would come back the following day. Next day I arrived and began the search again. We figured the ring had fallen into the leaves of some small trees near Alex’s clothes line. I had spent the previous day shaking the trees, and trying to swipe the detector through the leaves for a signal. That night Alex also tried searching the trees with a torch, looking for any reflection from the platinum ring. By the time I reached the tree line, I received a signal on the ground. After investigating the signal, there is was. Alex’s elusive platinum wedding ring! It was definitely not in that spot the previous day… perhaps the ring dropped from the leaves after Alex’s search the previous night? Anyway, I called Alex with the good news, his lost platinum wedding ring was no longer lost 
Yesterday I drove to Gordon, (about 30 minutes North of Sydney) to help Bruce locate his lost gold wedding ring. Bruce had been removing leaves from his pool filter, and throwing them into the bushes below. He felt the ring slip off, but could not find the ring amongst the leaf foliage. I arrived with my metal detector and started scanning the area. After a few false signals I had managed to recover Bruce’s lost gold wedding ring, which was hiding in a layer of dirt underneath the leaves. As you can see from the photo, this is quite a unique gold wedding ring. It was nice meeting Bruce, and is always a pleasure to have the occasional fast and hassle free recovery 
Kristy had only been married for 10 weeks, and was given the task of minding her husband’s wedding ring while he went water skiing. Kristy put the ring on her thumb, and carried on with her day. When it was time to leave the small beach area they we’re located, Kristy realised her husband’s wedding ring was no longer on her thumb. As you can imagine, both Kristy and her husband we’re gutted. Without her husband’s knowledge, Kristy gave me a phone call and asked if I could head up to Woy Woy on the central coast to help her out. As always, I mentioned to Kristy I would love to help out…but from the information she had given me I think it will be very difficult to find. Kristy had no idea where the ring had dropped, but luckily she did not venture out more than knee to waist deep water. After an hour plus drive, and a 10 minute boat ride to the location, I began detecting the beach which was now under water due to a high tide. Unbelievably after 
10 minutes, and digging up a few bottle caps, I looked in my scoop and spotted a large gold wedding ring. Kristy was willing to take a risk, and it had paid off. After returning the ring to Kristy, she was misty eyed and gave me a big hug. She could not wait to get home and surprise her husband who had no idea Kristy had organised a search for his lost wedding ring. Kristy, it was a pleasure to meeting you, Krystal and Dean.
Last week I was called out to Waroonga, a beautiful suburb about 50 minutes north of Sydney. Belinda had noticed both her wedding and engagement rings missing, and was told by her daughter that her one and a half year old toddler was last seen playing with the rings in the front yard. After an extensive search for the rings, Belinda decided it was time to call me in for the job. Belinda was in the process of having her yards excavated so I needed to find these rings before they we’re lost forever. Both Belinda and her daughter pointed me to the area that little Jack was last seen playing with the rings. After beginning my search in the obvious areas, I decided to grid search the entire front yard to no avail. This was confusing, how far could a 18 month year old boy throw two rings? I asked Belinda if I could check the backyard, which was half excavated. After about 10 minutes of searching the backyard, I 
recieved a signal with the metal detector within inches of where old grass had been dug out, and new soil laid. I couldn’t believe it, it was Belinda’s wedding ring. As I bent down to pick it out of the dirt, I eye balled the diamond engagement ring hiding not far beside it. Both the rings we’re sitting withing inches of where the bulldozer had stopped digging. This was definitely Belinder’s lucky day! As you can see by the smile in the photos, Belinda was incredibly happy and relieved to have her sentimental rings back on her finger. Belinda, thank you so much for your honesty and kind reward! It was also nice meeting yourself, kids and Fudge the Labrador 
Last night I received a call from Jason, who lost his wedding ring while swimming at Red Leaf Beach. Redleaf is a netted harbour beach at Double Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Jason was not sure of the exact location the ring slipped off his finger, so we both knew this would be a very difficult recovery. I met Jason at Redleaf beach at 6:30 am this morning, and began the underwater search. When unsure of the location the ring slipped off, all I can really do is cover as much surface area as possible before my tank runs out of air, or I start getting too cold. So with my underwater metal detector and 10 meter long rope as a guide, I began a slow search back and forth for Jason’s lost wedding ring. After about 2 hours of searching, things we’re not looking promising. I had recovered the usual coins, bottle caps and a ladies ring…but not Jason’s wedding band. After another conversation with Jason, we decided to shift positions. I only had about another 30minutes left in me due to low air, and drop in body temperature. About another 20 minutes of searching in the new position and almost giving up hope, I fanned out a signal which turned out to be a white gold wedding band. I was praying that this was Jason’s wedding ring! I called him over to have a look, he looked at it for a second and then his face lit up. I had definitely found the right ring. We we’re both mentally prepared for the possibility of not recovering the ring, so as you can imagine we we’re feeling pretty damn good to have it back! Jason, it was a pleasure meeting you… and thank you kindly for a generous reward. This certainly was a lucky day.
Yesterday I drove out to Castlecrag to meet Heidi. Heidi’s husband had lost his white gold wedding ring somewhere in the backyard. The area was covered with lots of trees grass and leaves, places where heavy gold sinks and dissapears. Heidi’s husband had an idea where the ring may have dropped, so I began searching the area. After a few false signals, I received a nice loud sound which is very similar to a $2 coin. After moving some leaves and grass away, there it was..a shining white gold wedding band. I want to thank Heidi for a kind reward even though it was only a 10 minute recovery. After some of the exhausting searches I have performed recently, it was pleasant to have a fast and hassle free job 
search for the bracelet without any success. Last week I received another call from Sree, this time his wife had lost a gold ring in the same garden. Being Hindu, Sree and his wife put their gold items in flowers, and after prayer they throw the flowers into the garden below their balcony. Sree explained this is a Hindu tradition. One would figure this would be an easy job for me, looking for gold in a small garden area. But as luck would have it, this garden is full of plants with long bladed leafs which makes metal detecting very difficult. On my second visit to search for the ring, I noticed the garden was still flattened from my last visit. I began detecting the area again, and got a strong signal about 5 minutes into the search. The signal turned out to be the gold ring. Since I had driven all the way to Homebush, (west of Sydney) I decided to keep searching for the gold bracelet I had no luck finding the previous time. About half an hour later, I received a very faint signal and was parting the blade leaves to one side. Just as I was about to pull out my 
Today I received a phone call from Naomi who managed to lose both her wedding ring and engagement ring on a harbour side beach called Red Leaf at Double Bay. Trying to do the right thing, Naomi put both her rings in the pocket of her skirt before going for a swim. When she was leaving for the day, Naomi picked up her towel and skirt and began walking home. After walking only 10-20 meters Naomi remembered the rings in her skirt pocket, and decided to put them back on her finger. After reaching into the pocket, there we’re no rings to be found. When I arrived, Naomi and her friend showed me the area they had been sitting, which was actually a baren looking grass area. If the rings we’re there, we would have been able to see them with our eyes. So I went down to the sandy area where Naomi first realised the rings we’re missing. After about a half hour search, I found Naomi’s engagement ring hiding in the sand. But after searching the rest of the area, I was not able to find the wedding ring. I did a search in the grass area she had been sitting, but no luck there either. I decided to do one last search of the sand 
area, digging all signals including crackling and null tones that normally mean rubbish. One of these crackling signals turned out to be Naomi’s wedding ring. In the hundreds of rings I have found over the past couple of years, this is the first time this has happened. This is a learning experience for me, and will be embedded in my mind next time I am searching for a thin gold ladies ring. Either way, it felt good to return both rings to their rightful owner…
On Wednesday I received a phone call from Layne who managed to get my phone number from the Manly Police. Layne had noticed her engagement ring missing after playing and throwing a ball in waist deep water at Apple Bay (right near Taronga Zoo). I packed my gear and drove down to the spot Layne described over the phone. Unfortunately the tide was high, and my underwater metal detector was playing up. I searched the dry/wet sand with no luck. I mentioned to Layne I would go back and try again at low tide on Friday afternoon. Thankfully she met me there, as it turned out I was searching the wrong spot on my first attempt. When meeting up with Layne, my cousin Nick who was there to help with the search recognised right away that the lady we we’re about to help was in fact World Surfing Champion Layne Beachley. I felt a bit stupid not knowing about an Australian surfing legend, and felt even more stupid when people on the beach we’re asking for a photo with Layne. Any how, we had a job to do…while Nick and Layne we’re snorkling the shallow waters looking for a glint of gold, I was carefully detecting the sand and shallow water in a slow North-South pattern. Since Layne did not feel when or where the engagement ring fell off, I honestly thought there was little chance of recovery. But after an hour of searching and digging up some rusty coins, I managed to pull a solid ring out of the sand. At first I figured it was a wedding band, but after eyeballing a nice sparkling diamond I was hoping that this was the right ring. After showing Layne the ring and seeing the 
smile on her face, I knew I had the right one 