July 14th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Since starting this business in 2008, I have had quite a few jobs in the Richmond area. Richmond is about an 80 minute drive north west of Sydney. I always enjoy driving to Richmond, seeing the farms makes you feel you have escaped the city chaos and entered the country. So when I received a phone call from Daniel to come to Richmond to search for his wedding ring I did not hesitate to say yes! Daniel was fairly certain he lost his wedding ring while laying down new grass in his backyard. After arriving at Daniel’s home, he showed me the new grass that had been laid. It was not a very large area, maybe 30 x 10 meters of grass at the most. After getting a couple of signals not worthy of investigation, I heard a nice ping, similar to the sound of a 50 cent coin. I pushed the pin pointer into the grass to find exactly where the signal was coming from. Trying not to ruin Daniel’s new grass, I parted it gently until pulling a gold ring out of the soil. Daniel, was a pleasure meeting you

June 27th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Another fulfilling day helping Alan from Doonside, a lovely blind man who lost his wedding ring while throwing a stick to his guide dog. After his family searched the house and backyard for the missing ring, they asked me to come over and help out with my metal detecting equipment. Alan was fairly confident his wedding ring flew off his finger while throwing a stick to his trusty Labrador guide dog. After lots of affection from Alan’s dog, I got to work scanning the backyard. About an hour went by and I had pretty much covered the entire back yard. Things we’re not looking promising, so I decided to start over again. This time playing closer attention to the grass near the concrete footpath. As most of you would know, concrete sometimes contains metal re-inforcements which cause the metal detector to beep. As it turned out, Alan’s ring was sitting in the grass very closely to the metal concrete reinforcement which was masking out the signal of a gold ring. Alan was happy to have the wedding ring back on his finger, and mention he would be getting it re-sized after losing weight. Was great meeting Alan and his best friend

May 27th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Shane was in the middle of a Rugby game when he felt his wedding ring slip from his finger. Somehow Shane managed to get the game to stop, whilst he and the other players searched for the ring in the thick grass. With no luck, Shane borrowed a Metal Detector from a friend and attempted searching for the ring himself. Many people (myself included) figure Metal Detecting is simple, you just swing the detector, and when you hear a beep you have found your target. I found out the hard way that it is not that simple. Many things can cause your detector to beep including mineralisation in the ground, hot rocks, iron, rubbish such as bottle caps, scrap metal, foil, pull tabs, nails, electrical interference etc etc. As an operator, you need to know how to interpret each sound. If you attempt searching for every signal you hear, you could spend an entire day searching a very small noisy area. Shane had no luck with the metal detector he borrowed and called me over to join the search. After an hour drive, I made it to Sylvania Waters.. (south of Sydney). Shane showed me the area he was standing when he lost the ring. Literally after 30 seconds of searching I had recovered Shanes wedding ring. Ater the frustration of searching with his football team and the loan metal detector, Shane was very relieved and thankful that I had found his lost wedding ring.

May 27th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Kate had the misfortune of losing her Pandora Charms in the grass of her front yard. With a quick movement of her wrist, the safety latch on her Pandora Bracelet broke and the charms flew everywhere. Kate managed to find some of the pandora charms herself, some of them we’re found some distance away, but there we’re still 4 beads which remained elusive in the thick grass. Kate called me over to search for her lost pandora charms with my metal detector. This job was a little tricky as a couple of the charms contained very little gold content, which my metal detector does not like. About 40 minutes after beginning the search, all of Kates Pandora Charms we’re back in her possesion

March 21st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Last Friday I was called out to St Ives (North of Sydney) to help Sue search for her lost wedding and engagement rings. Sue had felt the rings slip off her finger while she was throwing an exercise ball at a local park. Sue and her personal training group all tried searching for the rings, but the thick grass had made recovery impossible without the use of a metal detector. A few hours after Sue contacting me, we met up in the park to begin searching for the lost rings. It only took 2 or 3 swings of the metal detector before I received my first target. The detector gave off a reading similar to a piece of foil.. but as most experience detectorist’s will know, this is indeed the signature of the precious metal platinum. After parting the grass, I spotted Sue’s diamond engagement ring.  I plucked the ring out of the grass and handed it over to a now very happy Sue, and continued the search for the wedding band. Surprisingly,  both rings we’re not in the same spot.. with the wedding band being a couple of meters away. Both rings had now been returned to their rightful owner Sue, it was nice to meet yourself and little boy. Also thank you kindly for a reward, even though this turned out to be a quick job.

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

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

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 6th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

On Tuesday I drove out to Pennant Hills (near Castle Hill) to help Brett find his lost gold wedding ring. Brett was not exactly sure when or where the ring fell off, but there was a time frame in relation to when he noticed it on, and when it went missing. And he had not left the home in that time period. Brett had also been spreading wood chips in his garden on the day the ring went missing, so there was a good chance it may have slipped off into the garden. When I arrived, I began my search in the garden area without any luck. I decided to turn up the gain on the metal detector and search the garden one more time to be sure. Once again, no wedding ring to be found. There was another vegetable garden which Brett said he may have worked on that day, but was not sure. Before checking the vegetable garden, I decided to detect the thick grass that ran parallel to the garden. A few minutes of searching the grass and I received a nice loud signal, very similar to a $1 coin. There hiding in the grass was Brett’s chunky gold wedding ring. After a recent run of bad luck, I was just as releived as Brett and his wife to have found the ring. It was a pleasure meeting Brett and his wife, plus his two puppies (Dash & Dale) who kept me entertained while hunting Photo coming soon…

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

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