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.

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 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

Has anyone found a set of car keys at Narrabeen Beach? I spent a couple of hours in late Decemeber searching for a set of keys, which included key/remote for the car, key ring with garage door controller too. These are a large bunch of keys, so someone has most likely spotted them sitting in the sand and picked them up. If anyone does manage to find them, please contact me so I can put you in contact with the owner.

December 14th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Brent and his Fiance Kristy we’re enjoying a beautiful day at Manly beach on Sunday morning. Kristy removed her diamond engagement ring while she applied sunscreen. Around the same time, the life guards asked Brent and Kristy to move positions as the Nippers we’re about to start their events in the sand. Kristy had rested the engagement ring on her leg, and was totally sidetracked when being asked to move location. It wasn’t until about an hour later Kristy realised she had lost the ring. To make matters worse, the nippers we’re running up and down the area Kristy and Brent we’re sitting. So it was difficult for them to search the area, and the Nippers could have been pushing the ring deeper into the sand. By the time I arrived at the beach, the Nippers had finished up…and Brent did a great job to try and keep the area clear for me to do my search. And anyone familiar with Manly beach on a hot summer weekend will appreciate this is quite a task! Brent showed me the area they had been sitting earlier on that morning, and I began my grid search. After my run of bad luck lately, I was more determined than ever to find Kristy’s lost ring. After about 15 minutes of a very slow grid search, I received a first signal. The signal was very similar to that of a 10 cent coin, but I also know that gold registers a similar signal. I began combing the sand with my hands and exposed what looked like a thousand shining diamonds By this time, most of the people in the surrounding area knew I was searching for Kristy’s engagement ring. After a hug from Kristy, surprisingly other people who we’re watching me came up to congratulate me. Brent was putting more money in the parking meter when I found the ring, so he got a nice surprise when he arrived back. I want to thank Brent and Kristy for their honesty. They had no money on them at the time, and true to their word, they transferred a reward direct to my bank account. Was a pleasure to meet you guys!

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.

April 19th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I received a phone call yesterday from a gentleman who had lost his keys at Maroubra Beach. Before he went for a surf, he buried his keys in shallow sand, in a spot he figured he would remember. But when he returned, he was unable to locate where he buried the keys. After an hour of digging around, he decided to ask the Surf Life Saving club if there was anything they could do to help. Maroubra beach is the only beach I have delivered my promo leaflets to so far, so after a quick phone call I was on my way to find the lost keys. This was actually my first job at recovering keys. I always figured my services may be to expense to find keys. But when you think about it, the time and cost of getting new keys for the home and car, or changing locks can get very expensive. So a $50 call out fee, and me doing all the work to find them sounds like a better option Anyway, after about an half hour of grid searching the area…the keys we’re back in the owners hands. I apologize for not remembering the name of the gentleman who lost his keys…he had a very strong French accent which made it hard for me to understand.

April 19th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I managed to go out for a treasure hunt on Friday, which is very rare these days since I started offering my services to the public. I went to my local beach, Balmoral. Besides finding the usual bottle caps, pulltabs and coins, I managed to find this beautiful men’s gold watch in the  sand. If you are the owner of this watch, and can prove you are the owner by either identifying the brand, or providing a photo/receipt of the watch…I would be very happy to return it to you.

April 6th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

My friend asked me the other day, why do you post the unsuccessful jobs on your website. Wouldn’t this turn away possible business?? This could be the case, I really don’t know for sure, but at the same time I will continue posting the jobs I have been unsuccessful at recovering. I want people to know I am not a miracle man, and I cannot find ‘every’ lost item. I received a phonecall from Graham last week. He had lost his Platinum Wedding Ring. Unfortunately in this particular case, Graham had no idea where the Ring had actually fallen off. He was swimming at Freshwater beach near Harbord. He recalls feeling the ring on his finger after having a swim. The last time he noticed the ring was while walking to the Kiosk. It wasn’t until he and his wife we’re at dinner that night, he noticed the ring was missing. I warned Graham that it is hard enough to find someones ring when they have an idea where it fell off, but when you don’t have an idea…it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But most of the time, people need to feel they have done all they can to find their lost ring. It gives them a sense of closure. So I mentioned to Graham I would be happy to search for his lost wedding ring. We squared off an area where Graham spent the day on the beach, including his walking path to the Kiosk. On this particular day, there was another treasure hunter at the beach with his metal detector. Graham asked him kindly to join in on the hunt. The more surface area we covered the better. Any how, after a good 2/3 hour search, we had no luck at finding Graham’s lost platinum wedding band. If anyone happens to find a lost wedding ring at Freshwater beach, please contact me at bradl@bigpond.net.au and i will forward your details to Graham. I am sure he would be happy to pay you a generous reward.

March 31st, 2009 by Brad Lovell

This is another story where google maps saved the day. I received a message from Mike who lost his Platinum wedding band in the sand at Palm Beach. I was sleeping at the time of Mike’s message, and did not have the chance to respond until about 3 hours later. In that time, Mike had already gone to Tandy and purchased a Metal Detector. Unfortunately the new Metal Detector Mike just bought could not find the platinum ring. As most experienced metal detectorist’s will know, Platinum gives off a low deep signal..almost similar to foil or pull tabs from aluminium cans. Whether or not the Metal Detector from Tandy discriminates these signals I am not sure…but Mike had no luck. After talking on the phone, I mentioned to Mike the sooner I get there, the greater chance I have of recovering the ring. But Mike was not a Northern Beaches local, and was back home in the Eastern Suburbs os Sydney. He was unable to meet me back at Palm Beach due to work commitments, so I asked him to plot the location he lost the ring on google maps. This method had already worked for me once before, (Read Story Here) so Mike sent through an email with the treasure map attached. I printed out the treasure map, and began the journey to Palm Beach. After arriving, and studying the map Mike had made, I was pretty sure I had found the right area. After about 5 minutes of searching, I had found Mikes Platinum Wedding band about 6/7inches deep. This ring had some weight to it, so it had sunk into the sand really fast. Also, it was in an area that had a lot of foot traffic, being an entry and exit to the beach, so it is quiet possible that peoples foot steps we’re burying the ring deeper and deeper. Mike was a VERY happy man when I called to tell him the great news My girlfriend returned the ring to Mike the following day. Sorry I never actually got to meet you Mike, and thank you kindly for such a generous reward!