A call from Cassey and Brett their young son had thrown one at a time three rings into a monster hedge 3 metre high x 1M thick by 12 m long. Cassey quickly found two of the rings under the
Out of the hedge over the fence
hedge near the back. But the third most expensive diamond engagement $20K ring was no where to be found. It was arranged that Dan one of our ACT detectorists search the hedge for her. Little Did Dan know how right he was as he said to Brett this will take 10 minutes, or much longer. Excerpts from JR Dan’s accounts. The 4yo was throwing things from the trampoline. “What are you throwing?” his mum asked. “Nothing” he replied. The third throw was harder than the others, somewhat in the same direction, as he tried to get rid of “nothing” quickly.
The back neighbour’s yard was a neat three tiered built up garden with wooden beams secured by
Happy faces make it all worth while.
bolts. JR asked me to have a look 4 and 1/2 hours later (2 in the back neighbour’s garden) I had to call it a day. I made arrangements to go back the following week. I turned up to find JR waiting for us just outside of his very distinctive JR car. He was organising another JR to come along and help. Jarhead got there very quickly. This was going to be a team effort. My wife and I searched the top half of the hedge, giving pretty well each hedge branch a fairly decent going over, rooftops and roof gutters. JR and jarhead searched the lower half and scans of the ground, a tall flowering tree and normal garden things. After some time jarhead went into two neighbour’s yards – one was going to be difficult – metal shed close to the fence. JR went into the third neighbour’s yard. After 5 hours we took a break as the mum gave us chicken and salad rolls – yum. It was greatly appreciated and what some tired and hungry detectorists needed. Jarhead had to leave shortly after lunch for family commitments. JR jumped the backfence with the aid of the very flexible ladder. My wife and I came to the end of time as JR jumped back into the yard, looked at me and asked “Going?” I despondently said yes. He called the young mum over and I thought he was going to break the news to her. He did. He presented the ring. The bugr! He’d go well in a poker game. Tears and smiles from the mum, even my wife had a tear. It had been camouflaged near bolts and a bush. JR rang jarhead to tell him the news. I think we spent over 30 detecting hours looking for the ring. And the smiles and relief were worth it.
Personally, I gained more and met another JR member in Canberra. JR’s wealth of knowledge, experience, objectivity and perseverance is a sight to behold. He supported and thought about us as people and detectorists. His and jarhead’s commitment was fantastic. Now having met a fellow JR coin and relic person in Canberra it looks like we and others jarhead knows here will make it out together detecting potential sites. Great result all round. Well told Story Dan, you all are great detectorists with a very keen search attitude after my own heart, I think a dash good luck saved this day and I dont reject good luck anytime, to make our team effort victorious over the hedge. Go Jewellery Rescue Team my hats of to you. Tony.
What a buzz. I did my first job with JR this morning. The look on the client’s face when I gave him his gold ring back was priceless. I got a message from Tony yesterday morning to help find a ring fallen off a young bloke’s finger from the 2nd floor of a block of units. The bloke told Tony that his mother had given him the ring when he was 14, and the ring’s design was of waves (the surf and beaches were something special to him). The bloke and his mate had a look for it up to about 1am that day then made the call to Tony. I met the young bloke at 9am this morning. He showed me and described the ring’s descent as it bounced off the first floor’s balcony into the leaves below. The ground was pine chipped and ivy growing in a flat area before rising up a heavily ivy strewn slope. With the help of a Garrett Pro Pointer I found the ring just under 30 minutes later. The look on his face when I handed it to him was priceless. Thanks very much Tony for the full and total support you gave to me as a newbie to this style of detecting. it was a real pleasure all round. Signed Dan.
Tony Jewellery Rescue reply. Well Done indeed Dan, Top first job jewellery rescue job clearly your experianced at finding items welcome to the Australia wide network.
Dan that is one special ring you returned Jeremy today as on his 14th B’day, with his mom saw a cool Stainless steel surfers ring he wanted. But he was allergic to Stainless steel, but unknown to him his mom borrowed the ring and comissioned a jeweller to replicate the surfer ring in 9k gold as special gift. How cool is that, forget ring dollar value here to Jeremy this is a priceless one off item.
Welcome to Jewellery Rescue metal detector hire service Mike. Rockhampton is now supported by Jewellery Rescue Network Austraila. I find you metal detecting attitude and skills in your following real life jewellery rescue to be of outstanding quality as of Brians in the same area.
Extract from Mike’s story as told by him.
Counte Pierre and I went on a short stroll at the beach this morning so he could get a feel for his new scoop. I was only on the sand for 2 minutes as a couple walking their dogs approached me with some queries.
They wanted to know where I was from, and what I might charge for my services. The missus claimed she lost her diamond engagement ring in their back yard near the heels hoist. My ears lit up! “Do tell???” I exclaimed. She said her finger had shrank as she had lost some weight and she lost it while hanging out the laundry. They claimed they rang around and could not find anybody that offered this service and could not even find a local place to hire the equipment. I asked where they lived and it turned out to be right on my way back to town. I have always dreamed about finding somebody’s lost ring, but just never came across the opportunity. Today opportunity was knockin my door down! I verified that they were certain they knew almost exactly where it was, and there would not be any large metal obstructions right nearby to make the detecting difficult. I told them I was relatively confident that I could locate it if it had not been kicked up by mowing or something. It was nearly sunset and we had 30kms to go, so off we headed to have a go!
As soon as we pulled up in the drive it was already dark, but they claimed to have a back porch light. As soon as I headed through the garage the lady told me ” I have to come clean now…..there are actually THREE gold diamond rings out there somewhere, as I THREW them out there a couple months ago!” Personal business, and NOT mine, but I knew where she was coming from – $hit happens
She went into town for fish and chips as her husband and I set off to find the goodies. With the depth indicator I knew we would not have to dig anything that showed over a few inches deep(the grass was that deep already). In no time I hit a strong signal, but it pinpointed large, and sure enough, just under the grass surface was a can lid, then a few metres away, some alfoil, then eventually a 2c brownie, then a 50c. After less then 10 mins though I got a real nice tone, and right near the surface. The pro-pointer made it clear that it was a nice narrow, clean solid target.
I poked my fingers through the grass and at the very bottom, nearly in the soil – there it was! The first ring! Only it had no stone in it It looked like silver or white gold and you could tell it wasn’t directly hit, but slightly deformed and the setting had opened up and let go of the stone. Obviously a victim of the mower after all. BUT as I handed it to the hubby and asked if this was it, he replied ” I’m not sure?” What?? This was right in the path that she tossed them. I let him pocket the find while we kept looking for number 2 and 3. I was feeling pretty good having already found potentially 1/3 of the loot!
When she returned with food we called her over for a look. She too shrugged her shoulders and didn’t recognise the ring! I made about 2 more rows 10 metres long, a little bit to the right of the potential target zone. More trash and deep signal, but no winners.
Then I started to make a pass to the left of the target zone. I got a signal, but it wasn’t a ripper. Consistent enough though to justify a stoop with the pro-pointer. A great strong, narrow signal right on the surface. He held the torch overhead as I scratched through the grass with me fingers. Then, there it was……. a small two-banded gold ring with two small diamonds in it! He called the missus over for a look and she confirmed that was ONE of the rings! SCORE! This however was neither the wedding nor engagement ring. I stood back up and kept swinging. Less than a metre away I got another mediocre but consistent signal at 3-4 inches (the grass was 4 inches deep here). The pro-pointer nailed it, and a little finger digging exposed the WEDDING RING!! Boo yah! Two out of three! On the ground I could already hear another signal about a foot away with the pro-pointer. I went ahead and checked the detector and it was in the right range and made similar tone. 10 seconds poking through the grass unveiled the Engagement ring!!
He was amazed and said straight away that they would NEVER have found them without the right gear.
I was ten feet tall and bulletproof! Not only did I recover all three of her diamond rings, but found a nice silver ring to boot! All this in about 40 minutes in the dark.
Fish and chips were on the table so we sat down for a great meal and she kept looking down at her finger with all the rings on it. Turning them on her finger, you could see the joy in her eyes. I told them I HAD to at least photograph the goodies so they gladly obliged.
All was good, now I couldn’t wait to get back to town to tell Count Pierre of my big finish!
He was stoked as well and told me to hurry up and post the news! He also confirmed my big ring was 925. That explained the nice juicy tone it put off.
So a great day with a fellow detector, and the opportunity to help someone find a LOT of precious goodies!
People of Rockhampton your sitting pretty, to have these sort of quality detectorists in your town ready to assist you if you need a Jewellery Rescue if a minor disaster strikes your friends or family.
Poppa in Hobart Tasmania was helping around his sons garden and was up a small ladder pruning some low lying fruit tree branchs when his 50 year old wedding ring plus (now a little loose in his more senior years) fell from his finger and made a metal clunk as it hit a rung of the ladder spearing off and vanished into a garden of approx 30cm miniature agapanthe type plants. His son and wife looked hard and long for the ring a tough task amongst so many plants. Looking up the Internet they found and called our company called Jewellery Rescue in google. As it turns out we have two part time good detectorists based in Hobart. As this call came in on the weekend Sarah was able to respond that afternoon and search for Poppies lost ring. First searched was in the garden bed itself and out came and assortment of old nails from amongst the plants but no ring. Next detector search was the far side of the outer garden beds once again some more metal junk. Where was that ring.? Well it turns out the ring was found on the nearest path to the house underneath some cuttings that where slightly piled up. The ring was found in approximately half and hour after arriving there, and a very nice square shaped ring it is. No miss taking this is a mans ring, note the deep yellow colour that normally indicates a higher gold stamp most likely 18K as it turned out to be. The ring had to be there some where but it is always great to recover it and make sure we see those smiles on the owners faces and the ring back on the finger it came off once more. At Jewellery Rescue we look forward to helping more people recover their lost Jewellery joining the rest of Australia benefiting from our Jewellery Rescue services.
Ruth and her husband on their honeymoon were swimming in waist deep water beach side of Port Stephens when he felt his wedding band slip from his finger.
3 day old wedding ring found
As they where divers they instantly froze on the spot as not to lose the location in the hope of spotting the ring underwater. But Heavy gold rings bury themselves instantly in about an inch of sand the second they hit the bottom as a rule. They hired some diving gear and went back to the beach that they accurately marked to their credit but visual searching was in vain. It was starting to become apparent that newly weds where at greater risk of losing their rings. Well the way Jewellery Rescue works is we send the closest properly equiped detectorist, in this case from Newcastle metal detector hire an hour away (the couple where more than happy to cover extra fuel costs incurred). Andrew meet the couple and started metal detecting the water where the ring came off Ruth said the dive shop thought the ring would be washed away. The facts are gold simply settles deeper as the sand moves unless their are very strong currents. Andrew pulled up quite a few metal items and just before dusk they found the ring in the water so tonight it wont be residing with the fishes. There now 4 day old weeding ring was restored to them both clearly a happy couple no photo reqired here.
Brisbane to Surfer’s Paradise to recover a lost wedding ring for the Australia wide Jewellery Rescue. It was 6:15 on a Saturday evening. A call came in from a family holidaying at Surfers Paradise staying not too far from Sea World. It was a lovely autumn evening and they decided to have an evening meal on the beach at sunset. During the sunset it was noticed the ring had slipped off the wife’s finger where they where sitting. Due to the cooler air our hands reduce size in the cold. The good news is they knew exactly where the ring came off and they then understandably spent two hours sieving the sand with their fingers in the hope of a quick recovery. I really applaud their efforts and wish they found the ring of their own accord. However it is my every-day experience that you can be holding a hand full of sand with the ring in it and unless you are carefull you wont feel it in your hand and might move it away from the drop zone. Filtering the sand out between your fingers is the best way or use your hand like a rake moving approx 30 mm of sand depth at a time.
The closest Jewellery Rescue Network member was a real decent guy called Kim in South Brisbane approximatly 1H 15 Mins away. They had their grand-daughter over for the evening enjoying dinner when I called. Kim being really understanding and knew what it was like to loose something, agreed to join the family’s search as they said were not leaving the beach until it was found. On Kim’s behalf, I asked the family for an extra $20 for fuel given the drive involved. They agreed and understood it might cost extra if the detectorist is willing to travel further to search sites. Sadly the petroleum companies get the money not us.
On arrival Kim wasted no time and made short work of the beach search area approximatly 5 m square and the ring was found within 3 minutes about 60 mms under the sand. The family where very thankful that Kim came out, at very short notice (which isnt always possible). We thank the family for inviting us to assist them with our metal detector experience. Kim is one of the many good detectorists in many towns and cities across Australia who help people find their lost jewellery, by hooking them up with skilled local detectorists.
It was 4.30 pm on Maroubra Beach after a detector hire near the Rubicks cube north end of the beach where I failed to help find Mr Lee’s car keys even after much searching and fruitless digging metal detector search. I had a sheen of perspiration on my forehead from the last job and the bitter taste of failure even though I shouldn’t beat myself up as some jobs can be mission impossible before they start. Not that we are ever to know that before we start a search. To take debatable positive action I took a beach found gold coin and threw it out to sea for luck. Not that I am superstitious. Well it cant hurt right? Unless you happen to be swimming along and a coin hits you in the back of the head out of the blue. Just kidding – I was aiming out to sea. Then it was back to business once again. In my hand I had Mr Stephane’s excellent treasure map of where he and his family had visited the beach and unintentionally lost his wedding band. The prefect treasure map was a satellite image of the beach copied from google maps and pasted into a basic Windows picture editor like Paint (in windows xp) there was added red rectangles precisely locating the search area to within 5 meters.
The perfect Treasure map
Marking the physical search area from the treasure map I began grid searching. Within 10 minutes searching I heard the familiar beep a cry for rescue from someone’s gold ring found precisely in the search area. This ring wasn’t ”some one’s” as it had the names of Mr Stephane and his wife, name neatly engraved on the inside band. The outside of the ring had a lovely unique pattern, so interesting seeing all the different designs. After admiring the ring I zipped it into a secure pouch so it wouldn’t be dropped and lost again. Ring secured, I texted Stephane the good news, but before I could put the phone in my pocket a well spoken gentlman called out my name from the nearby beach access path. Wonder how he knew it was me? No doubt the metal detector in hand tipped him off. I asked him if he read the text message I just sent? He said no, as I handed him his wedding band. “No way! you found it already? Thank you, and my wife thanks you. I told him how I threw some coins in the ocean for luck and luck was given. As there were ominous signs beach sweeper tracks over this part of the beach as well. Stephane gave me some great advice for my web site which I thank him for as well as the very generous reward for the swift safe return of his ring. I don’t think you could meet a nicer person with a little old world charm in a young face.
For hire . All hours metal detector hire service. Its was 7pm Saturday evening when Tom phoned from Wamberal beach near Gosford. He told me his story of how he was wresting with his dog on the beach and some where in the excitment his golden wedding band was pulled from his finger into the sand. Looking and feeling for it in the sand until night set in making any further search very difficult. I think Tom sounded a little surprised over the phone I was willing to drive to Wamberal and search that night for the ring he took his vows with. I was glad Tom was willing to meet me about 9pm on a Saturday night a show me the search area on the beach as the tide was going out . I feel it is important to search ASAP on a beach as the sand is always shifting . On some beaches they have beach sweeping machines contracted that can beat us to your jewellery buried in the sand. If that happens it is most likly lost forever. The search began on a moonless night it was very dark on the beach, the waves where pounding, the only light from near by houses illuminating the landmarks. This did not sway Tom’s unerring sense of direction and he soon located and defined the search area, the scene of the dog wrestling. First of all I searched quickly closest area to the sea near a 3 foot vertical sand bank drop off, robbing the sea of a possible new treasure. This was clear of any metal targets. Slowly I worked my way up the beach, our shadowy progress punctuated by the barking of a local neighborhood dog. The barking dog worked in our favour as the dog owners turned on outside flood lights to see what the noise was all about lighting our search area some what. The unusual minerals in the sand was tripping the detector as metal targets. It is times like this cheap hire detectors will have you digging endlessly finding no metal targets, this can be highly frustrating for any one. But to a reliable Etrac detector it indicated it was only minerals under foot, yet I slow down and always double check as minerals can mask targets. I don’t like taking the slightest chance in missing precious memories through haste.
Lovely Gold Rounded ring.
I worked my way up the beach systematically away from the ocean, I was getting worried as I was close to top of the primary search area with out any thing to show to for 45 minutes work. I was thinking the search would have to extend down the beach over the area Tom and his wife walked before they noticed the rings was gone. A vast new search area with an ever dececreasing chance of success… On the 2nd last leg of the search sweep on the outer most edge of the detector coil was a metal signal not gold. But quickly the reading changed as I centered over the target. Toms ring then sounded like a golden Big Ben in the head phones loud and clear. With the quick use of the pin pointer probe I had hand full of sand and Toms wedding band in my hand. It was solid and uniquely rounded inside and out on the band quite unusual must be very comfortable to wear. Well Tom came over excepted the ring and in a spontaneous moment of happiness and relief bear hugging me lol I return gave him a couple of thumps on the back as the wave of success was like crossing the line in a State of Origin match I would imagine. Tom held the ring in the head lamp light I think the photo captures his feelings at that moment best of all, do you? The job done, I was invited back to meet Tom’s family for a most welcome coffee before my return journey to Sydney. There I also meet family dog good watch dog that started this lost ring story. Toms and his charming wife’s was happy, a little surprised and I think a little relieved the ring was back on Toms finger where she be wed him it 16 years ago. I thank the family for the write up in face book and for the generous reward for coming out quickly and success. However the story doesn’t quite end there as I lost a digging tool possibly on Toms beach. I put a reward out of $50 for my gator digging tool (fancy garden trowel) I lost some where on one of three beachs I visited that night. So I in a total roll reversal I experienced a new loss. I thank Tom for checking his beach for me but the trowel remains at large. So the moral of this story is we all lose stuff and really appreciate its triumphant if not unexpected return when hope can be diminished. I just hope my finder of the garden tool makes good use of it Tony from Jewellery Rescue.
Saved by a hire service. A miraculous metal detector hire true story at Narroweena in Sydneys Northern shore. The finding of Jan’s Grandmother’s, engagement diamond ring. It was 7.30 am I had been up early that morning searching local beaches for new treasures given up by the stormy ocean’s waves and currents but that’s another story. Jan’s story began when she was standing on the balcony overlooking their yard. She tossed a stick for their bouncing boxer dog but right at the point of release she felt and saw both the stick and diamond ring leave her hand and sail across the yard into a lovely garden of huge waist high birds nest ferns. They searched the garden intensively by hand and sight even over the fence at the neighbour’s yard as a remote possibility. The ring was an irreplaceable golden heirloom lovingly entwined with the family’s historical love stories. A new ring could never take its place.
Diamond ring 2 Meters in the sky.
So the search began where Jan best thought she saw the ring hit the fronds of a particularly large birds nest fern. The search area wasn’t particularly big but moving the metal detector search coil through brush is a tricky task at times. I moved the metal detector around, inside and up the fronds of the huge ferns. As they are designed to catch leaaves why not rings I reasoned. But not this time. About 30 minutes into the search I had pretty much covered the ground twice and apart from the normal assortment of non gold metal items found, there was no sign of the Diamond ring. Standing in the middle of the garden looking back at the balcony I was thinking that there were a couple of trees in the possible rings flight path which had lovely ferns growing in the forks of the branches. Ferns were also tied on the sides of the trees. So on a hunch, I started waving my metal detector in the air up and down the trees over my head. The look on Dennis’s face watching my unexpected tree search was basically one of disbelief . lol At first the metal detector picked up the metal wire holding the ferns in place on the tree, but then at extreme range there was a second beep, this beep was a strong and very positive gold reading. I asked Dennis if he had a ladder, I think he found me the ladder just to humor me somewhat. So there I was waving the detector all around a tree Approx 2 meters above the ground. While waiting for the ladder, I targeted the gold signal somewhere in the fork of the tree. I swapped the metal detector for the pinpointer close work and ease of climbing the ladder to find the source of the signal. Now up the ladder looking down on the tree fern in the tree fork I didn’t need the pinpointer. There in plain sight, was the ring. Sitting sparkling in the sun nestled in the fern. Handing the engagement ring down to Dennis was a great feeling and hearing him call out to Jan “he found it” - ”Tony found it in the tree”. Jan who was on the balcony replied “what!! no! I dont believe it.” If I hadn’t been there I might not have believed it either. This is the sort of story parents will tell their children if they want them to grow up to be expert metal detectorists. The moral of this story is if you see me searching for your lost jewellery away from the “target area “ humour me as I will go the extra lengths to find your jewellery too. Dennis and Jan thank you for making me welcome in your home.
Comments (0)
Sep 30 2011
It looked like silver or white gold and you could tell it wasn’t directly hit, but slightly deformed and the setting had opened up and let go of the stone. Obviously a victim of the mower after all. BUT as I handed it to the hubby and asked if this was it, he replied ” I’m not sure?” What?? This was right in the path that she tossed them. I let him pocket the find while we kept looking for number 2 and 3. I was feeling pretty good having already found potentially 1/3 of the loot!
Tony from Jewellery Rescue.