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.

March 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

I received a phone call from Hailey who asked me to search for her husbands lost Platinum Wedding Ring at Avalon Beach. The ring fell of his finger, in about waist deep water infront of the Avalon Beach surf club. I tried searching for the ring with my underwater metal detector but had no luck locating it. If any other metal detector guys do manage to find a Platinum Ring at Avalon beach, please get in contact with me.

March 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

I am currently working on a job trying to find a large gold ring which was lost in about 2 meters of water at Balmoral Beach. The ring is incredibly sentimental to the owner. The area the ring was lost is in a spot where many people swim each morning. If by any chance a swimmer has picked up a LARGE gold ring, please get in contact with me ASAP. The owner is willing to pay a large reward for its return. In the search for the gold ring, I did manage to find a silver ring with a green rock. If you beleive you are the owner of this ring, please contact me.

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

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.

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 20th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

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.

January 31st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

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…

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 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

Late in December I used my underwater metal detector to search for a gold wedding ring that was lost at Queenscliff beach. The owner beleives the ring may have dropped in the water as he was holding his baby in waist deep water. I spent about 3 hours at low tide slowly searching the water with no luck. If by chance anyone does manage to find a wedding ring at Queenscliff Beach, please contact me. As always the owner is happy to pay a reward for the return of his wedding ring.