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 3rd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Yesterday I drove to Gordon, (about 30 minutes North of Sydney) to help Bruce locate his lost gold wedding ring. Bruce had been removing leaves from his pool filter, and throwing them into the bushes below. He felt the ring slip off, but could not find the ring amongst the leaf foliage. I arrived with my metal detector and started scanning the area. After a few false signals I had managed to recover Bruce’s lost gold wedding ring, which was hiding in a layer of dirt underneath the leaves. As you can see from the photo, this is quite a unique gold wedding ring.  It was nice meeting Bruce, and is always a pleasure to have the occasional fast and hassle free recovery Although as punishment for having a quick and easy job, I managed to get a leach attached to my leg. This was my first leach attack…and I stupidly just ripped it off (ouch!) Every job offers a new experience.

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Kristy had only been married for 10 weeks, and was given the task of minding her husband’s wedding ring while he went water skiing. Kristy put the ring on her thumb, and carried on with her day. When it was time to leave the small beach area they we’re located, Kristy realised her husband’s wedding ring was no longer on her thumb. As you can imagine, both Kristy and her husband we’re gutted. Without her husband’s knowledge, Kristy gave me a phone call and asked if I could head up to Woy Woy on the central coast to help her out. As always, I mentioned to Kristy I would love to help out…but from the information she had given me I think it will be very difficult to find. Kristy had no idea where the ring had dropped, but luckily she did not venture out more than knee to waist deep water. After an hour plus drive, and a 10 minute boat ride to the location, I began detecting the beach which was now under water due to a high tide. Unbelievably after 10 minutes, and digging up a few bottle caps, I looked in my scoop and spotted a  large gold wedding ring. Kristy was willing to take a risk,  and it had paid off. After returning the ring to Kristy, she was misty eyed and gave me a big hug. She could not wait to get home and surprise her husband who had no idea Kristy had organised a search for his lost wedding ring. Kristy, it was a pleasure to meeting you, Krystal and Dean.

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.

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

February 23rd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

I am currently searching for a White Gold Wedding ring at Clovelly Beach. The ring was lost Monday Feb 22nd, while Dave was swimming from the steps. (not the beach) The ring has an engraving of a small tear drop on the inside. The inside is polished, while the outside has a dusty look. The ring is quite large, and could have been spotted by scuba divers or snorkelers. If anyone has managed to pick up a ring matching this description, please please contact me ASAP! The return of this ring is incredibly important to Dave as his wife recently passed away. I will continue the search for this ring until it is found.

While searching for Dave’s wedding ring, I managed to find 3 other rings in the process. 2 of them are gold wedding bands, and the other silver. If anyone has lost a ring at Clovelly Beach which looks like the rings in the photos, please contact me so I can organise their return.

February 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Narrabeen Lagoon

I always enjoy a challenge when it comes to metal detecting. Some jobs are simple, and it literally takes me minutes to recover the lost item. But this has been a tough summer for the “Metal Detector Man”! Under water jobs are always difficult for too many reasons and variables to list. Which means my recovery rate for such jobs it low. I always mention this to my customers before starting a new job. I am not trying to talk myself out of business, but I like to be realistic. Here are some jobs below which had disappointing endings..

• Sam was attending a wedding that myself and Layne Beachley had to sneak around to get to a harbour side beach her ring was lost. The word soon spread via the wedding guests that Layne Beachley had lost her engagement ring, and she had hired the metal detector man to try and find it. The following weekend, Sam was at his friends holiday home throwing a ball in waist deep water. After diving for the ball, Sam believes this could have been the point when the ring fell off. I drove up to the central coast (Bonnels Bay) to search for Sam’s lost wedding ring. After a good 3 hour search covering the area with both my metal detectors, we decided to call it quits.
• Jan had this misfortune of losing the keel off her boat in the dirty Parramatta River. Jan knew of the area where she believed the keel to have dropped. Because it was a metal keel, I decided I could try searching for it with my under water metal detector. It wasn’t until I arrived to the spot I realised how bad the conditions we’re. The water was literally brown…with zero visibility. In fact I could not even see my air gauge pushed up against my mask. Anyway, I wasn’t going to let this stop me…I did my usual 360 degree rope search covering a 20 meter diameter. A few big signals but none of them the keel. After a couple of hours searching in darkness I ran out of air. If anyone has an idea or a service which could help Jan recover her 250 kilo keel, please contact me!
• Paula lost her diamond engagement ring at Narrabeen Lagoon. I actually had 2 attempts at this job, but could not perform the search with any sort of efficiency while my underwater detector was in for repairs. My 3rd attempt was a couple of weeks later, armed with my repaired detector. After completing both a north-west, and east west grid search of the area following my ropes, I was not able to find Paula’s engagement ring. If any metal detector guys to manage to find a diamond wedding ring at Narrabeen Lagoon, please contact me. Paula is more than happy to offer a generous reward.

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

After an unsuccessful search for two wedding rings at Whale Beach, my confidence was at an all time low. Being the stubborn person I am, I take each and every job personally…and when I can’t recover the lost item for my customer I feel like I have let them down. Earlier on in the day I had received a phone call from Kylie. Kylie managed to lose both her wedding and engagement ring in knee deep water at Umina Beach (near Gosford on the central coast). So with my tail between my legs, I drove north towards Gosford. By the time I arrived at Umina Beach it was around 9:30pm, well and truly dark. I eventually found Kylie and her husband searching the beach for the rings. I had Kylie mark off a large area in the sand and mentioned to her I would search between these two marks and into the water. Without waisting any time, I began a slow tedious north-south search with my underwater metal detector. About an hour went by and things we’re not looking promising. But the one positive aspect of this search was the beach was very clean. The only signals I had received in over an hour we’re 20c coins. Not one piece of rubbish. Getting close to two hours of searching, I was getting close to completing the search in the area Kylie had marked. Had she put me in the wrong spot? Had the rings been washed away? Many thoughts we’re going through my mind, but I was determined to redeem myself after an unsuccessful day at Whale Beach. Not long after, I received a loud blast through my earphones. I gently pushed the scoop into the sand, and recovered the target. That target happened to be Kylie’s gold diamond engagement ring. Kylie was jumping up and down for joy, hugging both myself and her husband. My job was not over yet, I still had to find the wedding ring. About one swing of the metal detector from the where the engagement ring was, I managed to recover Kylie’s wedding ring as well. This was a great end to a not so great day. I want to thank Kylie and her husband for being patient with me, and for a generous reward