May 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

One of the benefits of my job (besides the rewarding feeling  experienced when you reunite someone with their lost treasure) is meeting new people and discovering places you did not know existed. Last month I received a phone call from Adrian who lost his wedding ring in shallow water at Shoal Bay. Now Shoal Bay is a 3 hour drive north of Sydney, normally way out of my service area, but I am glad I accepted this job. Adrian had a local Metal Detector Man search for his lost wedding ring, but the gentleman had no luck in his search. After finding my number on the internet, Adrian decided to call me, and did a good job at convincing me to travel to Shoal Bay with him. On arrival at Shoal Bay, I remember thinking what a beautiful location it was. But I was there to find Adrian’s lost wedding ring… so I put on my wetsuit and began the hunt. Unfortunately for me, such a beautiful clean beach hid lots of scrap metal below. The metal detector was receiving signals on each swing, so I decided I would just dig the nice sounding signals to start with, or it could be a long day. This tactic paid off, after recovering Adrian’s wedding ring in knee deep water. The drive to Shoal Bay and back to Sydney took around 6 hours, but the hunt itself lasted 10 minutes. It was a pleasure to meet Adrian, and thank you kindly for a generous reward.

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

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

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Alex had this misfortune of dropping his wedding ring on the decking of the Manly Yacht Club. Somehow by sheer chance, the wedding ring managed to fall down a small crack between the wood decking, and into the water below. Alex mentioned that at the time the ring dropped, it was high tide and about 5 ft deep. I met Alex at low tide, and he showed me exactly where the ring had dropped through the crack. I figured this would be an easy 5 minute job, but as it turns out I would be very wrong. The area where Alex’s wedding ring had dropped, just happened to be an underwater junk yard! There was so much metal in area the ring dropped that trying to use the metal detector become frustrating. My only option was to start digging every signal, even signals I knew we’re not platinum. I just needed to get this junk metal out of the way. After close to two hours of digging I was exhausted. I had removed a huge amount of metal, but none of this metal happened to be the precious metal Platinum. Being frustrated, and knowing the ring had to be close by, I mentioned to Alex I would attempt a second search free of charge. This time I came with more man power, Tony from Jewellery Rescue. Both myself and Tony spend another 2 hours digging without any luck. If any other metal detector guys happen to find a Platinum wedding ring under the Manly Yacht Club, please contact me. Alex is happy to pay a reward.

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.

September 6th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I received a phonecall last week from Claire. Claire’s husband asked her to take care of his wedding ring while he went for a swim. After losing his first ring in the surf many years ago, he was not going to risk this again. So Claire put the ring in her pocket while hubby went for a swim. Unfortunately for Claire, when it came time to return the ring to her husband, it was no longer in her pocket. Claire remembered throwing her car keys to her husband, this being the only time something was removed from her pocket. So the plan was to grid search the area from where they we’re sitting, including the path Claire walked to throw the keys to her husband. Luck was definately on my side that day, after one or two swings of the metal detector, I received a nice loud tone. I dipped my fingers into the sand, and pulled out a Platinum Wedding ring. Claire was wondering why I was walking back over to her so quickly. When she saw what was in my hand, her concern turned to a smile Claire gave me a big hug and a generous reward considering how fast I had recovered the ring.

August 19th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I got a call from Andrew earlier on in the week. Andrew had been swimming in the water close to the rock pool at Freshwater Beach, Harbord. When he arrived home from his swim, he noticed his platinum wedding ring was no longer on his finger. This horrible feeling had him head back to the spot he was swimming earlier that day. After searching the area to no avail, he decided to give me a call. As it turned out, Andrew was flying out to Japan that night to see his wife. He had not yet told her that the ring had been lost. Over the phone, Andrew described the area to me where the ring may have dropped. The following morning I noticed a message on my phone, Andrew’s flight to Japan had been cancelled due to maintenance problems. So I drove out to Freshwater Beach and met up with Andrew who showed me where he had been swimming. After searching the rocky area and water for 2 hours, I gave up on the search. I figured the ring could have been washed anywhere, and was planning to come back with my friend Tony another day. Later on that day, I received a call from Andrew. He said he was planning on going back to the rocks, but this time with a ring tied to some fishing line. He wanted to try and replicate what could have happened to his wedding ring. When he was searching through the box, he surprisingly found his platinum wedding ring! Turns out Andrew briefly went through this same box after he got back from his swim. This was great news. Andrew could now fly to Japan to see his wife, with the wedding ring now on his finger

August 19th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

iPhone Photo Does Ring No Justice

Around a month ago I received a phone call from Krystal, who found my website on google searching for a ring finder. She was calling on behalf of a work colleague who had lost his Platinum wedding ring. They we’re not sure where the ring was lost, but mentioned that it is most likely lost somewhere in the Car Yard they work at. I mentioned to Krystal that using a metal detector in a car yard would probably be a waist of time, as it is difficult to detect on concrete and around steel cars. Anyway, another month goes by and Krystal calls again. They would like me to come out to the car yard and check the grassed area where the sales guys remove the flags each night. No problems, I packed my gear and drove out to Jamisontown (near Penrith) west of Sydney. When I arrived, I met with Krystal, then Frank who was the gentleman who lost the ring. Frank was fairly confident the ring must have dropped somewhere in the grass area when he was packing up the flags one night. Unfortunately it was quite a large area to cover. I started my search along the fence line, which is where Frank reached over to grab the flags. Because the fence was metal, I was unable to move the metal detector too close without it spluttering. After searching the entire fence line, I decided to grab a stick and start sweeping the leaves and foliage away from the metal fence. Once this was done, I completed another search along the fence line hoping to cover everything I had swept away from the metal fence. After many rubbish signals, I finally found a Platinum ring hiding amongst a bunch of leaves. This was of course Frank’s wedding ring. The ring had been lost for a month and a half, so as one could imagine Frank was a very happy man to have it back! It was a pleasure meeting Krystal, Frank and the crew at Mazda Penrith. Always an honour to help out such nice and friendly people

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 27th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

This is not an ordinary story, but then again most recovery jobs I encounter are unique to some extent. I received a phone call from Chen who had lost his wedding ring. With the poor reception of our mobile phones, and me struggling with Chen’s accent…this was a classic case of lost in translation. Anyway, from what I understood from the phone call was that Chen had lost his wedding ring at the fish markets in Pyrmont Sydney. I had heard him mention the word (water and drink) so I figured his ring must have rolled into the harbour. So I arrived at the Sydney Fish Markets and met Chen in my wet suit ready to start searching the harbour for his lost ring. But as it turns out, Chen had led me not towards the harbour, but towards a drain in the car park area. When Chen was exiting his car, he felt his ring slide off his finger, and heard what sounded like a splash. He did not see exactly where the ring dropped, but figured with the splashing sound it fell down the drain. After removing the drain covers, I began searching for Chen’s lost platinum ring. Unfortunately in this situation, my metal detecting equipment was totally useless. The drain was lined with metal, so signals we’re constant. So I began to search for the ring the old fashioned way, with my bare hands. To make things worse, the drain was filled with black sludge which did not smell pleasant. After spending two hours running my fingers through the sludge searching for Chen’s ring I have up hope. I mentioned to Chen the only way to be sure the ring is in the drain is to shovel out all the sludge, then filter the ring out with water (which would be quite a laborious job). Chen had come to terms with ring being lost..but I was not about to give up without a fight. I spoke to my good friend Tony from Metal Detector Services. I told him the situation, and he mentioned he would be happy to join me on the hunt for Chen’s lost platinum ring. We went back to the Fish Markets at around 1am. This was the best time to hunt as during the day the car park is full, and we could not be able to access the drains. Anyway, Tony got to work removing all the drain covers with his tools. Then we began scooping the sludge into buckets. Once the buckets we’re full we walked down to the wharf, and began filtering the buckets with water. It was almost like we we’re panning for gold, but in this case Platinum. Anyway to cut a long story short, the hard work paid off. We found Chen’s Platinum wedding ring which was now a black colour. After washing it off, there was no mistaking this was Chen’s beautiful platinum ring. I called Chen later that morning to explain the great news. I could tell over the phone that Chen was a VERY happy man. In his own mind the ring was gone, and to hear it had been recovered was a great feeling. As a sign of respect, Chen bought me a huge 1 Litre beer at the Lowenbrau the following night. It was a pleasure to meet you Chen! And I want to thank Tony from Metal Detecting Services again. Without his help I would never have found Chen’s Ring. I owe you a beer or 3.