December 14th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

After a quick phone call from Melanie, I was on my way to Sydney Park at St Peters (Inner West of Sydney). Melanie had been playing around in the park and decided to put her wedding and engagement ring in her pocket for safe keeping. After she had finished her activities, she reached into her pockets only to find both rings we’re missing. I mentioned to Melanie I would hop in the car and meet her at the park ASAP. Two rings sitting in the grass of a busy park would get picked up in no time. About 30 minutes later I arrived at the park and met Melanie and her husband. Melanie mentioned to me she had both good and bad news. The good news being her husband found the rings in the grass with a flash light. And the bad news being I had driven out there for no reason hehe. Melanie and her husband obviously felt bad that I had driven out there on a Sunday night, and offered me more money than my regular call out fee. I could not accept the extra money as I was not the one who found the rings. My primary concern was that Melanie had her rings back on her finger. I told Melanie and her husband there is no reason to feel bad. This has happened many times before, and is just a part of the job I love

December 10th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Early on in the week I was reading a post from my friend Billy in Western Australia. Billy offers a similar service to myself in the Perth/WA region (Lost Treasure). He mentioned that in his last 5 searches he has come up empty handed for his customers. I felt bad for him, knowing this frustration first hand. I myself had been having lots of luck recently, recovering clients rings underwater which I thought I would never find. But this week my luck has changed. My last 5 jobs have finished with my tail between my legs. Why am I mentioning failures for potential customers to see? Wouldn’t this be bad for business?? Perhaps…but I just want to make it clear that I am mortal. I cannot find every lost item. But I can assure you of this… every job is important to me. I am stubborn and take each and every search as a personal challenge. When I can’t find the lost item, I am just as disappointed as my customers.

This is the breakdown for the week…

Lost Ring In Water At Shark Bay: Jamie lost his grandfather’s wedding ring whilst swimming at Shark Bay at Vaucluse. After a 2 hour underwater search in the area Jamie beleived the ring to have dropped, I came out of the water empty handed. Jamie was visiting from the UK, and will be back home by now. But if anyone does happen to find an 18k Wedding Ring at Shark Bay Vaucluse, please contact me! Jamie is willing to pay a reward for its return.

Lost Engagement Ring Coogee Beach: Elizabeth lost her white gold diamond engagement ring while swimming in chest deep water at the north end of Coogee Beach. I spent the afternoon searching for it without any luck. Please, if any metal detector guys do manage to find an engagement ring that matches this description, please contact me so I can put you in contact with Elizabeth. She is happy to pay a generous reward for its return.

Lost Wedding Ring Shelly Beach: Simon lost his wedding ring while swimming on the rocks side of Shelly Beach. I made two attempts at searching for this ring but to no avail. This area is very common with snorklers and divers. If anyone has managed to pick up a wedding ring, that is half gold/half silver joining together in a wave pattern, please contact me. As always, a reward is offered for the return of this ring.

Lost Gold Bracelet HomeBush: Sree beleives he may have lost his gold bracelet while throwing flowers off his balcony into the garden below. I searched the garden area best I could for a couple of hours, and was unable to find the bracelet

Lost Diamond Stud Earring Concord: Natalie lost her Diamond Stud earring while hanging clothes on the line. She felt it fall off and searched the grass area with no luck. My Metal Detectors struggle picking up stud earrings, which means I spend the search on my hands and knees, combing the grass with my pinpointing device. Natalie’s husband came out and mentioned he had since mowed the lawn. Anyway after 2 hours plus searching, I had no luck finding the earring.

December 7th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

On the weekend I got a call from Pauline who had lost one of her diamond earrings. She was in the backyard playing with her dog when it began to lick her ear. Pauline realised the earring was no longer on her ear, and thought her puppy may have swallowed it. After a visit to the vet, and keeping an eye on her doggy droppings the earring was no where to be found. Gold stud earrings are normally difficult to find as there is not a lot of metal content in them. The metal detector has troubles detecting them. When I arrived at Pauline’s, I asked for the other earring so I could check if my detector would pick it up in Jewellery mode. Unfortunately there was no response from the detector. After a little tuning and changing the detector to gold prospecting mode I was able to get a signal from the remaining earring. I began hunting the area Pauline was when the earring came off. After 2 hours of searching and digging up scraps of metal, I was unable to locate the lost diamond earring. What went wrong with this recovery? We will never know for sure, but possible scenarios are puppy did indeed swallow the earring. Another thing that had me concerned was the lawn had been mowed after the earring was lost. Pauline, it was a pleasure meeting you and your puppies. I am very sorry I was unable to find your earring.

December 7th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Last week I received a phone call from commercial diver Nathan. He had been asked to search for a lost diamond ring which was dropped in the water somewhere near Cottage Point. The ring’s owner, Edwina, was thinking clearly at the time she lost the ring…dropping a bag of sinkers in the water to mark the area. Edwina and her relatives had spent many hours searching for the ring to no avail. Nathan knew the chances of recovery without the use of an underwater metal detector would be very slim, so he called me to help out. After a boat ride to the location, Sarah (Edwina’s Sister) showed us the area the ring was lost. Much to my surprise the water was crystal clear, and the bottom was beautiful white sand. Sarah jumped in the water and located the bag of sinkers which marked the are of the lost ring. Nathan and I geared up and began the hunt. About 5 minutes into the search I received a nice solid signal from the metal detector. I begin to fan the sand away with my hand, revealing a beautiful gold/diamond ring. I returned the ring to Sarah who was one happy lady! The ring had been passed down from Edwina/Sarah’s grandmother, so it was one of those things that cannot be replaced. I want to thank Sarah and her family for a generous reward. And also thanks to Nathan who co-ordinated the entire recovery. I am sure we will continue working together in the future

July 21st, 2009 by Brad Lovell

This is quite an amazing story. Last night I was at Waterloo helping Brian search for his wife’s lost wedding ring. The previous night, she had removed her wedding and engagement ring before boot camp training, and placed the rings in a pocket within her bag. When walking back to her apartment block, she removed the keys from her bag. We are guessing it was at this point the wedding ring fell out of the pocket and onto the ground below. Brian’s wife recalled hearing something drop, but could not remember exactly where she was when this happened. To make recovery more difficult, the ring was dropped on a foot path area which gets lots of foot traffic. Anyway, I searched the grass and gardens to the side of the path. After about an hour of searching and many bottle caps later, no wedding ring to be found. I mentioned to Brian there is a good chance someone could have picked the ring up due to the amount of people walking in this area. Just as we we’re about to give up hope, I said to Brian I am just going to scan one level deeper, away from the path..as you never know how far a ring can roll. My stubbornness turned out to be a blessing. As I was still searching, a gentleman asked Brian what we we’re looking for. Brian mentioned we we’re searching for his wife’s wedding ring. The gentleman said he had found a ring in that same area the night before. After describing the lost ring, we had a match! The man was a tourist from Turkey, and happily returned the ring to Brian. The chances of us being there at the exact moment the man walked by is very freakish. If we had of left 5 minutes earlier, or I could not get out to do the search until the following morning, we would probably have never ran into the honest man who had found the ring. As one could imagine, Brian and his wife are very relieved to have the ring back in their possession.

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 5th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Similar picture, iPhone photo did not turn out well

Last night I drove out to a sports oval at Maroubra to help Amanda find her lost Diamond Earrings. Before her soccer game began, Amanda removed her Diamond Earrings and asked her friend to take care of them. Her friend put them in her pocket for safe keeping while Amanda played soccer. Unfortunately after the game was over, the earrings were no longer in her friend’s pocket. They obviously fell out while she was watching the game from the side line. After 4 people searched over an hour for the lost earrings, Amanda decided it was time to call me. I could not make it out to the Oval until night, but that turned out to be a blessing. After about an hour of searching the side line, I spotted a reflection from the light of my head lamp. I figured it was just another alluminum pull tab, and scanned the metal detector over the area. Oddly enough, there was no signal. This made me curious, so I pulled out my pinpointer and scanned area again. Once again, no signal. I got down close to the area and started parting the grass to the side. And there they were! Two beautiful diamond earrings! As it turns out, there was not enough gold content in the earrings to set off the metal detector, or the pinpointer.  It was just lucky that I had been there at night with the LED head lamp. I doubt I would have had any chance of finding the earrings in day light. Amanda (and her friend) we’re very happy to have the earring’s back. And Amanda, thank you kindly for a generous reward.

May 15th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Last week I received a phone call from Anna. Anna was doing boot camp with a group of people at St Le0nards Park, North Sydney. While running up and down a grass incline, Anna pulled at her shirt which caused her necklace to break. Her gold/diamond pendant dropped into the grass, never to be seen again. The boot camp group and trainer got down on their hands and knees and searched the area where the necklace had snapped. Unfortunately, even with all that man power…the pendant was not recovered. I met Anna at the park later that night, and began searching the area with my metal detector. After about a 4 hour grid search of the area, I was unable to find the Pendant I decided to have one last try the following morning, hoping the day light would help. I ran into Anna’s personal trainer, who put me in the exact area where the necklace had snapped. But once again, after another 2 hour search I was unsuccessful in locating Anna’s gold pendant. So what happened to Anna’s Pendant?? I really don’t know how this one got away. I am thinking either someone has picked it up, or there was not enough gold content in the pendant for my metal detector to find it. If anyone does happen to find a gold pendant with a diamond at St Leonards Park, North Sydney, please contact me so I can put you in touch with Anna.

March 29th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

This is a very interesting story. I received a phone call from Michelle on Friday night. Michelle had lost one of her beautiful white gold/diamond ear rings, which was a gift from her Fiancee. While Michelle had been talking on the phone, her big Labrador puppy was licking her ear, which caused the back of the ear ring to fall off. Michelle was unaware this had happened at the time…and went outside to do some gardening. Just as she lowered her head underneath the branch of a tree, she felt the earring drop from her ear. It then became clear to Michelle that her dog must have removed the backing, causing it to drop off. After inspecting some doggy poop, Michelle found the backing of the ear ring. So now all she needed to do was find the diamond side of the ear ring. After many unsuccessful attempts at finding the ear ring in the thick buffalo grass, Michelle decided to give me a call. I mentioned to Michelle that some times Metal Detectors are unable to detect small stud earrings. This has happened to me in the past. But because Michelle had her other ear ring, we could test it out. I brought both my metal detectors along just in case. As is turned out, the studs we’re too small for the metal detectors to recognise. Also, there we’re over hanging power lines where the earring had dropped which wasn’t helping the situation. I remembered a conversation I have had with my good friend Chris Turner from Vancouver. He mentioned a similar problem…his metal detectors we’re unable to pickup a signal on a small stud ear ring, so he ended up getting down on his hands and knees, and scraped the surface area with a screw driver. After scraping the area, he heard the ping of metal against metal…and that was how he found the ear ring. I decided to test this method…but unfortunately due to the thickness of the buffalo grass, this method did not seem to work. Since I had already driven out to Bexley (south of Sydney), I mentioned to Michelle I would search through the grass for a while just using my eyes and hands. About 10 minutes of searching the grass…I spotted the stud end of Michelle’s earring. I pulled it out from the grass roots, and there it was…that shining Diamond. I handed the diamond stud to Michelle, who was now a very VERY happy lady. After many hugs and kisses, Michelle handed me a generous reward. Lady luck was on my side for this job

March 24th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Meera and her husband we’re at a local playground with their baby when her necklace got caught on a swing. This caused some damage to the necklace, causing two gold pendants (one with an embedded diamond) to fall into the mulched surface. These pendants had significant cultural meaning to Meera and her marriage, so recovery was important. Meera and her husband tried their best to find the pendants but had no luck. So they decided to give me a call as a last resort. Unfortunately due to current family commitments, I could only arrange to start the search at night. Not that this is going to make recovery that much more difficult. I am used to hunting at night…So myself and Meera’s husband set out to the playground armed with a metal detector and torch. What I figured would be an easy job, turned out to be not so easy. After searching the entire playground, I was unable to find either one of the two pendants. When detecting around playground equipment, it is difficult to search close to the metal poles supporting the equipment. So after having no luck searching the entire playground, I began moving the mulch that surrounded the metal support poles away from the equipment. From there I began detecting the newly positioned mulch without any interference. This turned out to be a good move. After about 2.5 hours of searching, I managed to find the gold/diamond pendant in the moved mulch. Meera’s husband was shocked I was able to find it, and figured there was very little chance of recovery. I continued the search for the remaining lost pendant in the same proximety…but unfortunately had no luck at finding it. It was time to call it a night… If I am in the area again, I will have another search for the second lost pendant. These pendants are very small, so finding them is difficult. I have added a small photo of the diamond pendant I found. Once again, I appoligise for the quality of the photo from my iPhone.