July 14th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

I got a phone call from Kim in Coogee. Kim figured he may have lost his wedding ring while working in the garden. I told him I would be happy to come over with my metal detecting equipment and help. First thing I noticed when arriving at Kim’s house was the power lines directly above the garden. Even after turning the power settings to a minimum, the proximity of the electrical interference was too much for my trusty detector. I decided to try my underwater detector instead, this seems to be more stable around electrical interference. It too was very unstable, but more usable than the other detector. Thankfully Kim’s wedding ring did not put up too much of a fight, about 10 minutes later I found the ring sitting on top of the soil under a plant.

March 1st, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Hal's Stunning White Gold Ring

I was driving passed Coogee beach just after finding Stewarts Wedding Band at Maroubra Beach when I received a phonecall. The call was from a lady who’s friend had lost his Ring in the sand at Coogee Beach. After dropping off Stewart at Bondi, I drove back down to Coogee Beach to see if I could find this ring. I was introduced to Hao, who was the gentlemen who lost his beautiful white gold ring. Hao was obviously devistated that he had lost something of such importance to him. There was little daylight left, so I got straight to work. Hao explained to me that he flicked his hand down as he went to pickup a bag, so he was pretty sure the approximate location of the ring. When I arrived I noticed a crowd of people who had been helping search for the ring, including one guy with a metal detector. Unfortunately, the metal detector only found a couple of bottle caps, and not Hao’s ring. There we’re also some really big holes and sand mounds which made me a little nervous. Anyway, I made my usual perimeter, adding a large buffer zone from the point where the Ring was lost. This confused Hao, but he would soon find out why I did that. After doing a north-south search of an area which should have well and truly covered the area of the lost ring, no ring was found. It was time to complete the grid pattern in an east-west direction. I also increased the AC Power setting on the metal detector to reach deeper signals.

This made the detector a little bit unstable, but I was afraid Hao’s Ring had been buried deeper due to digging. About 10 minutes after starting my east-west sweep of the area, I received a faint signal. As always, when looking for someones lost item, I will dig every single signal..even when I know it is just a bottle cap, or foil. I began digging for the faint signal, which become louder once I removed a few layers of sand. A little more digging, and there it was. Hao’s stunning White Gold Diamond ring. It wasn’t in the same spot that Hao thought he lost it, but this seems to be very common. The look on Hao’s face when I handed him the ring is the reason I love my job so much! The look of dispair turned into happiness within a split second. And Hao gave me one of the firmest hand shakes I have had in a while Hao was incredibly greatful for the work I had put in to recovering his lost ring, and handed me a very generous reward. Hao, it was a pleasure to meet you, and an honour to return such a beautiful ring to its rightful owner. And thank you for sending me some photos of the ring. The photo on my iPhone did not do it the justice it deserves.

February 10th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Jeff lost his gold wedding ring in the water on the South End of Coogee Bay Beach about a week ago. Unfortunately I was unable to find Jeff’s lost wedding ring after two attempts. If anyone finds a Gold Wedding Ring on the south end of Coogee Bay beach, please contact me at bradl@bigpond.net.au. There is a reward offered for the return of Jeff’s wedding ring.