GeekyBeach Metal Detecting

GeekyBeach Metal Detecting

Metal Detecting & Lost Item Recovery

Tag: Gold

Ring Recovery on Stinson Beach in California

This ring was found all thanks to GPS and some photos on the beach. I was contacted after a man lost his wedding ring on the beach. Usually when this…

This ring was found all thanks to GPS and some photos on the beach.

I was contacted after a man lost his wedding ring on the beach. Usually when this happens, the search area is very large (it’s not always easy to know exactly where you were and memories can be deceptive). As a metal detectorist, I do my best to find lost items before they are swallowed by high tides, so I have to narrow down the search as much as possible.

I always ask my search clients if they took photos on their beach day, and fortunately they did! Not only would I be able to use the photo to match up the background and determine where they were sitting, their phone also recorded their GPS coordinates.

After a quick 30-minute search and lining up my vision with the background of their beach photos, I had his 14K gold wedding band back above the sand. It’s just a matter of digging – not only into the sand, but into the details! I use every bit of data to narrow down the search and strike gold.

Photo of the ring after I recovered it from on Stinson Beach.

Photo of the ring after I recovered it from on Stinson Beach.

Story from the Ring’s Owner:
“Me and my wife were visiting Stinson Beach on a sunny afternoon. After enjoying a great snack we walked around then the sun started setting. As we got back to our blanket, it was time to start packing up so I started rubbing the sand off my feet. And just like that I rubbed my wedding ring off my finger. It’s bizarre to experience but I could tell that the ring was off but I had no sense whatsoever about which direction or how far it had flown from where I was sitting. My wife, my friend and I started to comb the sand around us for about an hour. The darkness kicked in, we had to head back despite knowing that the ring was somewhere right there we had to abandon it and head home.

In my devastation and desperation I googled around for professionals who could help and found Laura! I emailed her and we got into a conversation. After a few rounds of emails she had enough information about the location (based on geolocated images) and agreed to do a search…she sent me an email with a picture stating that she found my ring 🙂 What a truly unbelievable but relieving moment that was for me and my wife! We are forever thankful for Laura as my ring and I are now reunited thanks to her mailing to me 🙂

Thank you Laura, you are awesome!”

Photo of the ring owner's hand.

The owner’s ring back on his hand after recovering it from Stinson Beach.

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Sentimental Ring Recovered in the Park

I received a call from a young lady who lost a sentimental ring that belonged to her late grandmother. It always tugs at my heartstrings when I hear from people…

metal detecting ring recovery

I received a call from a young lady who lost a sentimental ring that belonged to her late grandmother. It always tugs at my heartstrings when I hear from people who’ve lost something so special, and I definitely do what I can to help as a metal detectorist.

In this case, the loss was in an area where special permissions were needed in order to legally search. After a long wait, I finally received the “okay” that we needed. When I arrived, both the young lady and her mom were present and willing to get their own hands dirty in the search.

The grass was damp – the location was near a sprinkler head and it was the cause of the loss as well! A quick rinse in the powerful spray of the sprinkler caused the ring to fly off. When it happened, she searched the area including into a really massive shrub! But after multiple attempts to search, she thought it might be lost forever.

I started the search near the sprinkler head in question, and we started noticing a lot of trash signals that caused interference with each other. We pulled up the trash items just slightly below the surface, and we knew that the ring would likely be just below the surface as well.

After circling outward from the sprinkler, we checked under the shrub, but came up with only foil trash. We were about to call it quits – assuming that maybe someone had picked it up before we were able to search. But I know to always give it one more try.

Back near the sprinkler where we removed some trash signals, we had a fresh signal on the detector. I had the young lady check the spot carefully and I heard her gasp – “no way!” And just below the surface, likely stepped on when initially searching, was her grandmother’s ring. Here is just after that moment captured on video:

This young lady and her mom were both willing to get their hands dirty and it paid off. Even though she had searched the area herself many times before I was called out to help – she didn’t give up! It was a team effort that paid off.

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Tiny Gold Ring

I had the most adorable ring finding experience last week! A hopeful dad contacted me because his daughter accidentally lost her special baby ring while playing with a friend in…

I had the most adorable ring finding experience last week! A hopeful dad contacted me because his daughter accidentally lost her special baby ring while playing with a friend in the yard.

She wasn’t supposed to be playing with it, but we all remember being a kid and only doing what our parents said, right?! I shared a story about how I opened a collectible Barbie doll that was hiding in the closet when I was kid thinking I could repackage it so that mom would neeeever know. I was wrong. ; )

Both dad and daughter joined me to search their front yard. She even wanted to learn how to use my pinpointer to help me search! After a long, sweaty search, we were about to call it quits. Maybe the ring ended up somewhere else?

But I’ve learned over many past experiences that just when I’m about to give up, that’s when I need to give it another shot. Sure enough, about ten minutes into that last attempt…there it was, face down between the grass blades. The tiniest ring I’ve ever seen!

tiny gold ring

I had a hard time finding it because I was using an 11″ coil and it ended up being very close to the concrete driveway. It was a difficult process to carefully use the pinpointer to check along the perimeter, but it worked!

We all learn through these experiences as kids and even as adults. It’s okay – get out there and learn something new as a result!

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Diamond Engagement Ring Recovered – Stinson Beach, California

Jillian contacted me about her engagement ring that went missing on the beach over the weekend. She had a great idea of where it might be and was able to…

Jillian contacted me about her engagement ring that went missing on the beach over the weekend. She had a great idea of where it might be and was able to direct me to the probable location.

She also took the initiative to call the lifeguard tower, local beach cafe, and anywhere else she could imagine it may have been lost. Smart!

I hit the road with my trusty Minelab metal detector and created a search grid on the beach. I like to use a “narrowing” approach when the area is fairly large. I marked off a perimeter and did some diagonal crosses and W patterns near the likely spots first. For example, she mentioned sitting fairly close to the dunes, but not on them. The dunes create a natural upward slope “chair” when sitting on the beach, so it would make sense for someone to set down a bag on the slope and have it tip over.

Within about an hour and a half, after pulling up every pop tab and piece of aluminum trash on the planet (at least that’s what it felt like!), I finally found her lovely gold diamond engagement ring! What a dazzler!! The bright sunny day made it sparkle. I let out an audible “YES!” for an audience of no one! But it was still thrilling.

I called her right away so she could breathe a little easier, and we met up later that evening to get it back on her hand where it belongs.

I enjoyed getting to know the happy couple and I wish them well on their upcoming wedding and travels. I’m glad they found The RingFinders and my website Geekybeach.com so I could help, and so happy it turned out positive.

Returning a special item is a great feeling and it’s a big part of what many metal detectorists enjoy about the hobby. Have you ever lost a valuable item? Be sure to contact me if you need help!

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Diamond Ring Recovered on Haulover Beach, Florida

A beachgoer in Miami Florida contacted me early morning on May 12, 2021 to recover a diamond ring lost the night before. She was a wreck searching for the ring…

A beachgoer in Miami Florida contacted me early morning on May 12, 2021 to recover a diamond ring lost the night before. She was a wreck searching for the ring and couldn’t sleep. Fortunately, she kept track of her position on the beach and we met before sunrise on Haulover Beach in Miami, Florida, USA.

It was a quick search in the dry sand near the tide line and within about 15 minutes, the ring was found and returned to the owner just as the sun broke through the clouds at the horizon.

Beautiful morning and a great way to start the day for this young lady who thought fast, did a web search and found theringfinders.com!

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Mens Wedding Ring Recovered

I was on my way to the grocery store when I received a call from Jerrica – her husband had just lost his gold wedding band in the Atlantic Ocean…

I was on my way to the grocery store when I received a call from Jerrica – her husband had just lost his gold wedding band in the Atlantic Ocean off of Sunny Isles Beach, FL. I did a quick U-turn for home, changed into my water detecting outfit and grabbed my CTX 3030.

They made a smart move by finding the RingFinders website and calling me so quickly. Because they remained in the location where it was lost and were patient, they were able to accurately point me toward the water right where they believed the ring came off. They were able to describe it and he remembered feeling it come loose in the water.

I expected a long hunt because it is a very popular stretch of beach – lots of tourists and a fair amount of aluminum trash too. But to my surprise (and theirs), the ring was my first target!

I loved seeing the excitement from them and their friends who were shocked at how quickly it was found. All because they had the patience and quick thinking to call right away!

Losing engagement and wedding rings is very common in the water. Even though it feels tight normally, when you enter cooler water your hands will shrink up a bit in response to the cooler temperatures. That makes it very easy to come flying off when you are fighting waves! There are products like ring guards which will help keep them on your hand if you aren’t comfortable leaving them in the hotel room.  Some people use things like this ring protector that can be worn to help prevent loss. It might look a little goofy, but the feeling of losing it is worse!

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