March 21st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Last night I received a phone call from Alex. He had been playing volley ball the previous day at Manly Beach, and lost his wedding ring while diving for the ball. Knowing Manly beach is constantly hunted by other metal detector guys, I told Alex I would finish my dinner and head straight out there. Alex showed me the area he had been playing volley ball, and the direction he believed the ring to fall. We squared off a search area with a large safety  buffer, and began the search. After an hour of slowly covering an extended area I was starting to worry. But there was one positive sign, I was getting lots of targets including coins…which is an indication that the area has not already been hunted out by another metal detector man (or lady). It was time to begin searching the other side of the volley ball area. Although Alex did not beleive the ring was dropped in this area, you just never know where rings can end up. After about 5 minutes of searching the new area, I got a nice strong signal which would normally indicate a 50 cent coin. This signal can also indicate a large gold ring. After locating the target with my pinpointer, I caught a glimpse of gold between the sand. This glimpse of gold was indeed a gold wedding ring. I handed the ring to Alex who right away said that was his wedding ring. After a quick text message to his wife, I took this photo of a relieved Alex and the ring with my iPhone.

March 21st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

On Friday afternoon I met up with Danielle at South Curl Curl beach. The previous day Danielle’s brother had lost his wedding ring (which was passed down from a late relative) in about knee deep water. I mentioned to Danielle that finding a ring in the surf is always difficult, and the chances of recovery are always low. Danielle and her brother decided to call me out anyway, so at low tide I began the search. The surf was a little rough, with a strong current making a deep channel near where the ring was lost. I spent about 2 hours searching the area where the ring was dropped, and also the bottom of the channel in case the ring had been washed into it. Besides a couple of bottle caps and a $2 coin, there was no sign of the lost gold wedding band. I recently discovered there are a few metal detecting guys who read my blogs, and try finding the rings I was unsuccessful at recovering. I have made this easier by providing a treasure map above as to where this ring was lost. Danielle mentioned the ring is just a plain gold wedding band, about 40/50 years old. There we’re no engraving besides the hallmark. If anyone does find a ring that matches this description, please contact me on 0413727410 so I can put you in contact with Danielle.

March 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

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

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.

December 26th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Last week I packed up my Scuba and Metal Detecting gear and followed Simon to a secluded location somewhere near Clontarf. The previous day Simon had jumped off his friends boat for a swim and felt his wedding ring slip off his finger to the bottom of the water. Water depth was around 3 meters, so it was almost impossible for Simon to swim to the bottom and search for the ring. The following day Simon and I swam out to the area where the ring had fallen. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the water was clear so I had high hopes of finging Simon’s wedding ring. I dropped the lead weight with rope attached to it and began my 360 degree grid search of the area. After having no luck, I moved the weights and rope to another area Simon had mentioned he may have been when the ring dropped. Another search of this area and I was out of air. It is always a horrible feeling coming out of the water empty handed, but unfortunately this is a part of the job. Simon and his wife we’re very grateful for the effort I put into searching for the wedding ring. It was a pleasure to meet you guys, and I am going to organise another visit to this spot with my diving friend Matt.

December 22nd, 2009 by Brad Lovell

On Sunday afternoon I received a call from Denise. Denise was having a bad day…not only did she manage to lose her wedding ring, but her engagement ring too! I felt really bad for Denise, and told her I would be on my way to the reserve the rings we’re lost after dinner. Denise’s husband Daniel was still at the park searching the area with a torch. When I called Daniel to see how he was going, I heard the beeping of a metal detector. Someone had kindly loaned Daniel a Metal Detector when they saw him searching frantically for the lost rings. I arrived at the park not long after, and Daniel showed me the area they had been sitting earlier that day. Denise had picked up her young kids, and taken them to the toilet block which was about a 50 plus meter walk from the picnic area they we’re located. It was a possibility the rings fell off while Denise was carrying the kids. I began my slow grid search from the toilet block back towards the area they had been sitting. Halfway through my search, Daniel returned the loan Metal Detector and the globe in his torch broke. Feeling worn out from many hours of searching, Daniel went home while I continued searching. After about 3 hours of slowly grid searching the area, I had finally made it back to the area Denise had been sitting that day. I must admit, I had given up hope by now. What grass was left in the area was not very thick, and the chances of someone eyeballing two gold rings on the ground was very probable. A reflection from my LED headlamp in the distance led me to a tree close by. The reflection turned out to be coming from what looked like a small diamond, but with no ring attached to it. I wondered in my mind if this was a part of Denise’s engagement ring? I decided to search the surrounding area… and to my surprise, after a nice solid signal I looked down with my light and there we’re two gold rings lying next to each other. I picked up the rings and noticed no Diamonds we’re missing from Denise’s engagement ring. It was just coincidence that I found the other diamond, which turned out to be a good thing as it led me to the area Denise’s rings we’re dropped. Although it was getting close to midnight, I decided to give Daniel a call. I am sure he and Denise would sleep better knowing I had found the rings. Denise and Daniel we’re incredibly happy to hear the great news, and I am meeting with Daniel tomorrow to return the rings

July 19th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I have not had much luck with my last couple of recovery attempts, which is not a great thing for my confidence. I am stubborn, and really hate to give up hope on a search…I know I shouldn’t take it personally, but it does make me feel defeated. But unfortunately, failure is often the nature of the service I provide. A couple of weeks ago a gentleman by the name of Damian lost his wedding ring in the Nepean River, near Penrith west of Sydney. This was the first time Damian’s wedding ring had ever slipped off his finger, and in this particular instance he happened to be standing on a jetty with the Nepean River below. Damian watched as his wedding ring dropped in the water, and his brother-in-law jumped straight in and began searching for the ring. After a quick phone call to his Wife, Damian had his wetsuit and joined in on the search. There we’re two major problems Damian and his brother-in-law encountered. One, the water was freezing cold. In fact we measured the water temperature at 12.5 degrees. The other problem was the bottom of the river was full of weeds. So visibility was virtually zero. After removing some weeds and searching, Damian and his brother-in-law gave up. Damian found my services on the Internet and decided to give me a call. The following Saturday myself and diving friend Matt headed west to the Nepean River. Matt geared up, and began searching the bottom of the Nepean for Damian’s Ring. After a bone chilling hour plus search, Matt was cold and exhausted. He found many items below, but unfortunately no gold/diamond wedding ring. I could tell Damian was disappointed, yet appreciative of Matt’s efforts at the same time. We we’re not about to give up on Damian yet. I really wanted to join in the underwater search myself…and after a call to Matt’s diving partner Alan, I had the thumbs up to borrow his diving equipment. On Sunday we we’re back at the Nepean river..this time both geared up ready to search. Damian had also meshed up some baskets so we could pull out the weeds to make our search easier. After clearing some weeds, Matt and I we’re both underwater, hunting for Damian’s elusive wedding ring. Visibility was horrible, to the point I could not see my hand infront of me. We we’re basically working blind, operating purely on sound from the under water metal detector..and the vibrations of our pinpointers. After about an hour plus of searching and removing copious amounts of rubbish, I finally had Damian’s large gold wedding ring in my hand. The search was finally over, and Damian was a VERY happy man. I want to thank Damian for being patient with the search process, and helping out where ever he could. And of course, thank you kindly for a generous reward. I also want to thank Matt, without your help I would never have been able recovered the ring. And also a special thank you to Alan for lending me your diving equipment. It is very much appreciated!

July 3rd, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Yesterday I was called out to help David find his lost Platinum Wedding Ring. David was exercising in an area of grass close to the Sydney CBD. He was not aware of the exact moment the wedding ring slipped off his finger, but figured it could have happened when he was removing boxing gloves. When something is lost in a public accessible area, the quicker I get there the higher probability I have of recovery. After a short drive across the Harbour Bridge, I picked up David in the City and he directed me to the area he was exercising. Just as I was beginning to grid search the area, David had already beat me to it. He found the ring hiding in grass not very far from the area I was about to search. As one could imagine, David was a happy man. It was a pleasure meeting you David, and thank you kindly for a generous reward even though I was not the one who found your wedding ring

June 18th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Some recoveries can be long and tedious. It is not unusual for me to spend up to 6 hours searching for some body’s lost precious item. And then there are jobs where recovery time can take minutes. And this story is of the later. I received a phone call from Owen who lost his beautiful Platinum wedding ring while playing soccer at a park in Sydney. Due to work commitments, Owen was unable to meet me at the location, but I had him send me a google map satellite image of where he had been playing soccer. He actually felt the ring fall off his finger, but finding it in the thick grass was impossible. So I printed out the treasure map, and made my way to the park. On arrival, the weather was not looking to good, so I was hoping this would be a quick one. I looked at the map, and found the area Owen had circled. Literally after a few seconds of searching i received a target which read zero inches under ground. I start parting the grass with my fingers, and there it was. Owen’s precious Platinum wedding band. Just as I got back to the car, the rain started pouring down. It was a close call! Owen was excited that I had recovered his lost wedding ring, and gave me a very generous reward. Thank you so much Owen, and it was a pleasure to meet you!

June 12th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

A few blog entries back, I mentioned a search I did for Sky’s lost wedding ring at Newport. There we’re many setbacks with this job, first being the low hanging power lines above the search area…then there was the steel re-inforced concrete driveway which caused the metal detector to go crazy…not to mention a very steep decline which could have caused the ring to roll anywhere. Anyway, being the stubborn person I am, I went back for a second search for Sky’s lost ring. (at no extra cost of course) But this time I came equipped with my friend Tony from MetalDetectorServices, and also a Vibra Probe pinpointing device with a 4 inch coil. I thought this time round we may find the lost Ring. But as it turned out, even with the extra man power and equipment, we we’re unable to find Sky’s lost wedding ring.  I really hate to give up searching for someones lost sentimental item, but I feel I have done my best with this job. I want to thank Tony from Metal Detector Services for his help on this job. Tony did a great job considering the conditions we we’re dealing with.