June 27th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

This would have to have been the most freakish job I have had to date. Peter lost his new wedding ring in shallow water at a harbour side beach in Clontarf. I am fairly familiar with the beach at Clontarf, and thankfully it is not a surf beach. But I explained to Peter that from my experience when a ring has been lost in the water, especially when you don’t know where  it fell off, it is always going to be difficult to recover. When I arrived at the beach, Peter had made some perimeter markings in the sand as a guide. I turned on my detector to begin what I figured would be a long slow grid search. First sweep of the detector and I receive a sweet loud signal. Plunge the scoop into the sand, and out pops Peters shining gold wedding ring! I think I was just as shocked as Peter! It is rare to pull a ring out of the shallows so quickly. Both Peter and myself couldn’t believe our luck! If only all my jobs we’re this successful!

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

June 26th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

This is a story of 2 men, and a lost wedding ring. John Taylor is a Hawkesberry Barrister who spotted his friend Terry frantically searching the front yard. John stopped his car and asked Terry if he needed any help? Terry mentioned he had lost his wedding ring, a ring he had been wearing for 59 years. Terry had given up hope finding the ring, but John being the persistent and generous man he is decided to hire a metal detector from Kenards. They spent some time searching for the lost ring with the hire detector, but we’re overwhelmed with the constant signals the detector was picking up. John, still not giving up hope did some research on the Internet and found my website. After a quick phone call I told him I would be happy to help out. We organised a day and I drove out to Windor (about an hour plus drive north west of Sydney)… This is where I met Terry and Nancy, a lovely couple who had been married for almost 60 years. After meeting the couple in person, this made me want to find their lost wedding ring even more. Terry was not sure where the ring had dropped off his finger, as he had spent time in various places throughout his front and back yard. I asked Terry, if he had to guess a spot where he feels the ring might be, where would it be?? He mentioned a spot in the garden where he had been pulling out the roots of an old palm tree. I started detecting that particular area, and in about 1 minute I had pulled Terry’s wedding ring out of the dirt. Terry and his wife Nancy we’re rightfully happy to have the ring back in their possession. The local Windsor paper published an article on the story which John kindly mailed to me I love my job!

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

Well it is that time of the year again, when the weather gets cold and the soccer season starts. I received a call from Be who unfortunately lost her wedding ring at Blackman Soccer Oval at Lane Cove. Be was not aware of when or where she lost the ring, but could recall the area of the soccer oval she spent most of her time. I began grid searching the area Be had been sitting, and after about 15 minutes of searching I managed to find Be’s large gold wedding ring hiding under some blades of grass. This turned out to be an easy one, and Be was inncredibly happy to have her wedding ring back

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.

April 8th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Last week I received a phone call from a gentleman by the name of Tim. Tim had been standing in waist deep water at Balmoral Beach while holding his baby, when his heavy platinum wedding ring fell off his finger and into the water. That afternoon I met Tim at low tide and began searching the area for his wedding band. Frustratingly, the ring was lost in a very trashy area, which meant I was receiving a signal almost every swing of the metal detector. With the amount of area that required searching, it could take days to dig every target. With only a couple of hours of day light left,  I decided to only investigate the stronger signals. After about 90 minutes of digging, I finally recovered a large heavy platinum ring. When Tim returned to the beach, I showed him the ring, praying it was the right one. Tim smiled and slid it straight onto his finger and said ‘thats the one!’. Tim it was great meeting you and I appreciate your honesty in regards to the reward. You we’re true to your word which is very appreciated.

April 8th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Sadly on Australia day back in January, Liza lost her very large gold wedding ring after being dumped by a wave at the Copacabana Beach. Liza was visiting her son from South Africa at the time. Unfortunately when Liza’s son Bernard called me to search for the ring, my under water metal detector was in for repairs. Many months later, Liza contacted me via email to ask if I could search for the lost ring. Because so much time had passed by, and the ring was lost in the surf I mentioned to Liza there was very little chance of finding the ring. But as a way of getting closure, Liza asked me to search the area for the ring anyway. I drove up the central coast to the beautiful Copacabana Beach and met Liza’s son Bernard, who showed me the approximate area of where the ring was lost. Strangley enough, after 2 hours of searching the area at low tide, I did not receive one single target! This rarely ever happens…there is always at least a coin or bottle cap to dig up. If anyone has managed to find a “Large” gold ring at the Copacabana Beach, please contact me as this ring means a lot to Liza.

March 21st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Last night I received a phone call from Alex. He had been playing volley ball the previous day at Manly Beach, and lost his wedding ring while diving for the ball. Knowing Manly beach is constantly hunted by other metal detector guys, I told Alex I would finish my dinner and head straight out there. Alex showed me the area he had been playing volley ball, and the direction he believed the ring to fall. We squared off a search area with a large safety  buffer, and began the search. After an hour of slowly covering an extended area I was starting to worry. But there was one positive sign, I was getting lots of targets including coins…which is an indication that the area has not already been hunted out by another metal detector man (or lady). It was time to begin searching the other side of the volley ball area. Although Alex did not beleive the ring was dropped in this area, you just never know where rings can end up. After about 5 minutes of searching the new area, I got a nice strong signal which would normally indicate a 50 cent coin. This signal can also indicate a large gold ring. After locating the target with my pinpointer, I caught a glimpse of gold between the sand. This glimpse of gold was indeed a gold wedding ring. I handed the ring to Alex who right away said that was his wedding ring. After a quick text message to his wife, I took this photo of a relieved Alex and the ring with my iPhone.

March 21st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

On Friday afternoon I met up with Danielle at South Curl Curl beach. The previous day Danielle’s brother had lost his wedding ring (which was passed down from a late relative) in about knee deep water. I mentioned to Danielle that finding a ring in the surf is always difficult, and the chances of recovery are always low. Danielle and her brother decided to call me out anyway, so at low tide I began the search. The surf was a little rough, with a strong current making a deep channel near where the ring was lost. I spent about 2 hours searching the area where the ring was dropped, and also the bottom of the channel in case the ring had been washed into it. Besides a couple of bottle caps and a $2 coin, there was no sign of the lost gold wedding band. I recently discovered there are a few metal detecting guys who read my blogs, and try finding the rings I was unsuccessful at recovering. I have made this easier by providing a treasure map above as to where this ring was lost. Danielle mentioned the ring is just a plain gold wedding band, about 40/50 years old. There we’re no engraving besides the hallmark. If anyone does find a ring that matches this description, please contact me on 0413727410 so I can put you in contact with Danielle.