Jade called she said she had lost her ring, situation normal so far, then she said she was pregnant and I thought Jade said in labour, a dry gulp from me, shouldn’t you be on you way to hospital not standing on the beach i asked? Jade said oh it was was coming on for a few days now. OK. So that reassured me, Not! Well needless to say I meet up with Jade and her husband Daniel from memory ASAP as a precaution to helping them out to the maximum . Later Daniel said she wasnt due till April 2012
The area they where sitting on the beach wasn’t large and soon I had dug up 4 targets now with the additional interst of a dad and daughter sailing team watching on the last one being Jade’s huge rectangle cut lovely ring. I was extremely glad I could return her lost diamond ring to them to take any additional stress off Jade’s pregnancy so they can focus on bringing there first born into the world. I a little cheaky and offered to let them call their new addition “Jewellery Rescue” as it had a nice ring to it. They declined the offer politely with out laughing out loud and instead they added a handsome reward to the base search cost and reassured me they had baby names already picked out. I wish this new family all the best.
Well this story is one of the reasons I do a metal detecting hire service for Australia. Martin called me Sunday night about 9pm when I went to bed early for a change tied after a water job. I didn’t hear him call, SMS or email and my phone was on the bedside table, I normally am a night owl and have taken calls as late as 1:20am. So in the morning I returned Martins call to learn his fiance had brushed her hands on her clothes and sent the ring flying around a path and a garden further away than they first thought in this cooler weather as hands shrink. I arranged to meet Martin and her fiance at their place that night so they would not have another night with out their heartfelt engagment ring currently absent without leave.
Martin and Olivia recovered ring.
Greeted on arrival by Martin and Olivia we where soon looking at the search area where the ring was lost. The couple had allready visually searched hard by torch light and looked into a surface drain near their newly installed outdoor oven. I also admired the new look mondo grass with scissor trimmed short back and sides not some time you see every day, all good all search efforts to re-find the AWL platinum and diamond ring. Olivia and Martin at my search request swept up the clippings over the path and put them in plastic bag just in case the ring was amongst it. We detected some thing metal and turned the dogs washable bed into a make shift sorting table to find a nail. Well my main detector quickly found the steel in the path a few surface pegs and nails. So I switched down to a cute little detector i use in tight places amongst plants. and with in a few passes detected a signal that matched some thing platinum like. I peeked into the detection area in question and stepped back while talking to Martin and Olivia about some other interesting finds I made at other places for a minute or two as I do. I am not sure what Olivia was thinking but she said aren’t you going to check that signal? Smiling inwardly at anticipation of their impending find I held out the pinpointer and said who wants the honours? Looking at each other Martin took the pin pointer and found what I had all ready seen and kept quiet about bad boy me, their wayward engagement ring. He took the ring brushed it and placed back on her finger and said “it looks like the wedding is still on” with a bit of humour of his own. Thanks guys for the invite to your home to search for what will be a new family heirloom one day. I think you might agree Olivia’s smile tells you about the thanks this couple sincerely expressed. Not so lucky for the next person I searched for that night on Maroubra beach with two detectorists, at times, working till 3 am. Result a No Find, thats detecting some times sadly I hope our detailed exhaustive search gave them some closure on their loss.
Anna was sure she needed some help to locate her diamond earring lost in pretty think grass under the clothes line 4 hours earlier given to her by family on her 21st a few years earlier. A very sensible desision to call for a proffessinal service given not all detectorist or hire places have the fine metal detectors to pick up the smallest stud earrings. Anna and her lovely baby first called Brad from Metal detector hire also in Sydney. Brad who also cares more about people and finding their items like i do knew I had a detector especially suited for the really small items. Where as our primary detectors are powerfull some times less is more. Well with the right detector for the job and a little luck that day with in 5 minutes we had found Anna’s earring returned to her where it belongs. My thanks to Anna and her family for inviting Metal Detector Hire and Jewellery Rescue out to search for her. Watch on You tube a brief video of how the search looked. I also use some video’s to assist other detectorists learning.
The story starts for Norm there was no towels to dry his hands in the Public loo’s so as Norm walked out he was flicking/air drying his hands a totally every day thing too do, happen to any one, when off flung his wedding ring only cms away into a resonably sparse hedge with a leafy and rubbishy garden bed. Surly a ring could not hide there? In short yes it did, and very well.
Balmoral Beach
As the word of the lost ring spread around about about 20 people at times help Norm and Alison hand search for it in a 4 meter by 1 meter hedged garden bed at various times, yet the colour gold blends very well in leave mulch and rubbish. It was only Norm and Alison left the next day dilangently still searching , when they to decided they needed some metal detector search help from Jewellery Rescue, they called. On Arrival I found my standard metal detector coils having trouble getting in amongst the numerous branches of the hedge so it was a hands and knee search job with the a specialized metal detector called a pinpointer. Using a skimming motion of the hedge first high to low as the movement might also drop the ring to the ground if it is caught up higher. A simple matter to further metal scrap the area down to harder ground level. Covered 3 meters of the garden in approx 15 mins signal after another signal this time I grabbed a small hand full of dirt and still invisable ring. I opened my hand dusted the dirt off bit by bit seeing the lovely gold ring emerge. I just handed it to Norm and Alison watching a sense of relief cross their faces progressing to smiles as these guys where also starting to believe some one took it before them after their night search a good reason to try not tell too many people what you are doing. Not that they did.or just tell them it is a cheapie sentimental silver ring.
A young family from Canberra where ready to return home spending another last hour or two on Cronalla beach before heading inland again. It was here where Max’s wife had her Small diamond D letter shaped pendant fall of it’s chain in to the sand. They knew to within one meter of where it fell but visually searching proved hopeless and they had to start travelling home soon that day. I arranged to meet Max and his family ASAP on the beach in approximatly an hours time to recover their wayward pendant for them. Once I meet the family and they showed me the small search area the quality metal detector made short work of finding small the 10mm tall D Pendant in the loose sand for them. A small item but deeply meaning full to the family. We where all happy they will be taking it home with them not left unsearched for on the beach.
Met Kim, Craig and their lovely Daughter doing some very nice home improvements. Kim stopped for a break and was playing ball with her daughter when her wedding ring with a sizable solitaire diamond flung off her finger with the ball toss. The ring quickly vanished into the garden or the mowen grass seemingly with out a trace. Kim called me after searching manually and after considering renting a detector a wise decision for the sake of saving approx $50 you get experienced operators, search knowledge, and best equipment over a bare bones rental. In fact I loaned a good spare detector to Kim and Craig to search ahead of me for their ring. The detector was wildly beeping at many buried metal items and nails in the timber garden frame.
Lovely Ring
I was scanning the wider grass area in the failing light donning a headlight to see. Kim and Craig did a top job finding all sorts of metal items, they would make great detectorists. However it turns out they where tricked by nails in the near by wood work masking the ring from their detection as they moved on. I moved in on that area and detected the immediate grass area , the potted plants on the garden edge with no ring signals for starters. Next was a slow scan along the lawn edge along a timber edge with the dreaded numerous nails at intervals. Like Kim and Craig I also was given a distorted signals from the multiple targets but experience had me check one specific signal manually with a Pro pinpointer we use for surface targets. With out to much delay out popped Kim’s lovely diamond solitaire ring with some coaxing from my finger, deep out of the thick spongy buffalo grass roots. I never get tired of seeing rings come to light and peoples faces lighting up. This job took approx twenty minutes so tonight they wont be stressed out about a missing ring with the fairies in the bottom of their garden. I thank Craig and Kim for their trust to do the job right for them and invitation to their home.
Lucky I carried the water detector with me as well as this job was in the ocean tidal pool. Approx 1pm lunch time I arrived and started detecting the pool where I thought the customer described while I waited for him to meet me and give me more precise directions as I was under pressure of time to find this ring in time to make the next appointment 2 hours north through peak hour traffic across the Harbour Bridge.
Ring saved from a watery fate
Well the pool was crystal clear, the bottom was full of crushed up little shells mixed with various sized rocks. From below that was a smorgase board of faint metal signals I didn’t have time to investigate and have fun with. So I dropped the detectors sensitivity down to the lowest setting (my logic was the ring was lost yesterday and hadn’t sunk too far in a low setting should see it as the whites PI is very sensitive. I could always increase sensitivity later and peel back the pool floor in detecting layers.) About that time the owner arrived and said I was in the right spot but maybe needed to come in a bit shallower as he was wrestling with his mates in thigh deep water. They also snorkeled to try find it with no luck. I recommenced detecting and was working my way ashore pulling out a bunch of ring tabs that sit on most sand top layers. But needless to say one signal was the ring. By this time every one in and around the pool knew what I was up to a curious lot, as I wear my uniform in the pool for sun protection. They cheered as I held up the owners ring for him to see from the pool edges. No privacy any where these days lol. Well the owners smile says it all in the second photo and hearty back slaps. While I was there two other owners who had lost jewellery there asked if I found their stuff. I had to say no and didn’t have time to do search that day as I was on to my next job with all haste. Well another happy man can go home and not be in trouble with the missus and a generous reward was given with many thanks.
After the last job I was running late to my 6 pm appointment and actually arrived 6:45pm. I called the customers to let them know I was running late. They where ok with that. Curl Curl Beach is made of soft fluffy sand. It was a concern as to how far the ring might have sunk. Well the owners, a nice young couple, showed me the search area and off we went etracking into action once more. The beach was lovely and free of rubbish. We found a small coin spill, then out popped a high quality silver ring nut, not the ring we where looking for. The young lady said this is exciting!!! and it is at times, but I replied that’s why we charge you $100, its just for the floor show lol she knew I was joking and didn’t mind. Well after an hour we were just about across the primary search area a signal in a section where it wasn’t really meant to be, up popped a good sounding gold signal or another 20c piece? But both of them swooped on the family’s chunky signet ring when I spread the shovel contents across the sand and it shone in the sun. Another great result for a young man. I hope his family aren’t to cross at him for losing it in the first place if he tells them he lost it at all, and I know he would as he had a good sense of character about him.
Hard work and persistence pays off for the most important people of this story two really good people Brad and Sarah and their metal detector hire story. The guys from the Nova Sydney Radio Action Battle team, Matt, Dan and last but not least Maz called this a miracle on a prime time breakfast show and made out I was some sort of super hero running around the beach with a cape on. That gave me a good belly laugh seeing that mental image me dressed like a super hero and wearing my underwear on the outside as comic strip characters do. The fact is, in a way it is a minor miracle the ring was found at all on the beach with the surf, tides, and the dreaded beach sweeper/cleaner – there was a terrible trifecta stacked against us. NOVA radio interview 7 12 2010
Brad and Sarah 6 weeks engaged with a stunning and unique custom built ring with 7 matching clear diamonds of 2 different sizes imported especially from the USA in a white gold setting. Value around the $8k (Not that money matters, all personal Jewellery is priceless in emotional value.). As the story unfolded the ring could have been almost anywhere on the beach as they where both in the surf and sitting right up at the back of the beach when Sarah noticed the ring was missing – it had fallen off. Brad a friend and colleague from Metal Detector Man referred Brad to Jewellery Rescue as he was nursing a temporary injury. We are Sydney’s prime detecting team. I meet Sarah’s Brad on the beach and started searching the surf while the tide was out with a water detector. This task was gruelling as I was copping a pounding from the surf even though I am a solid guy, so much so I dropped my custom built sand scoop. Brad being a good man himself didn’t hesitate to jump in to help me locate the scoop in the surf and earned my gratitude. Brad found it quickly beside me by foot feel where I was detecting for it , thank goodness as I can’t work with out it in the surf “essential tool of trade”. Well approx 3 hours passed Brad had to leave for another appointment. Brad paid me in advance my $100 fee being for a local Sydney job. I still had at least 4 hours detecting time in front of me just to cover all the main area they spent time on the beach that day including the dry sand where the sweeper frequents. Night fell and I was still working I took the time to message Brad and Sarah 7:23pm how the search was progressing and not to get their hopes up because of the beach sweeper. In my line of chosen work there is no prize for second place it must be found! 10:06pm I messaged Brad and said I was just about dead, exhausted, but I have widened the search area North and South of the primary search area where we first believed it was lost in. They thanked me for my work and wanted me to go home as they no doubt didn’t want to impose on my services too far, being kind hearted, and considerate as they are. I assured them I was a night owl and promised them and myself calling up reserves of energy and all important metal detector interpretation focus. ( This is where hiring your own detector can fail - what is the detector really trying to tell you and how do you interpret the signals?) My aim now to finish the extended area 15M wide each south and north (whole swathes of beaches area) in addition to the original search area before I went home.
Brad and Sarah see their ring again Phone photo sent to them.
10:24pm magic happened I sent Brad and Sarah a photo (see original photo here as they would have received it, blurry phone photo but clearly Sarah’s ring). I sent them a photo as I wasn’t sure whether they would quickly believe I found it straight away or not. (Other Jewellery Rescue’s I found has taken minutes in conversation and a few people cried tears of relief before the rightful owners accepted their jewellery – is it really coming home where it belongs.) Brad showed Sarah the phone photo I sent, then called me, they where shocked. It really was found! Somewhat totally in awe as they where beyond hope - It was found! Brad told me he was glad to both to know and meet me and there were still good people in the world. After I worked out he was talking about me being a good guy! (lol just joking) I said “likewise” as Brad earlier helped me in addition they gave me a yet to be savoured bottle of good red wine ( I will toast you guys engagement when I do), along with a reward I didn’t count in front of Brad at the time (manners). Well the amount later I could have choked a small horse on it and Brad apologised it wasn’t more but could get it as I guess the ring value was up there. I didn’t view Brad as as a rich man in dollars, just in generosity, spirit and good fortune in their engagement, a great start in life to both of them were my thoughts for them with the ring returned. I declined Brads additional selfless offer of extra money and put his original reward aside to pay other guys in our Australia wide Jewellery Rescue Network (where services exist) as some families/individuals that can little afford their own search at times. If we think they could use a additional break in life we offer a reduced or nil cost service using Brad’s, other generous customer’s and our own money. I also give job referring life saving organisations donations to save lives in my customers names if possible. Pensioners also are automatically given 20% minimum discount if they let us know at the time please . But we aren’t made of money either so we have to be selective about funding freebies but this has never been an issue before. Well that’s another stunning ring returned to good people who really deserve it I am happy for them.
I also thank Brad and Sarah for sharing their story with the Nova Radio 96.9 fm Sydney Radio Action Battle team, Matt, Dan, and Maz. I hope it reaches the ears of other people in need of Jewellery Rescue. I will work hard for them too for the best possible result. This story is also being picked up by Bryn at Manly Daily Times, Brad, Sarah and myself will possibly pose for a Manly beach photo for people who haven’t heard of Jewellery Rescue I would be sad to hear of of more stories where people lose their Jewellery permanently when it can be so easily found at a reasonable price.
Brad (Metal detector man) from metal detector hire and I frequently team up and go on joint hunts of our own or on behalf of customers as detecting support for each other.
Mens lost wedding band found near rock.
This night we were called off our leisure hunt at Double Bay where I was trying out a new water metal detector on a small beach near Strickland House at Vaucluse approximately 3km away. We meet the people who had placed a heavy men’s wedding band on a large boulder out of the sand with all their gear. When it came time to leave, the ring was nowhere to be found and assumed to have been knocked off into the sand. Brad fired up his detector he had with him I also began searching in close to the rocks nooks and crannies with a specialized metal detector know as a pinpointer. Basically a short range detector ideal for small places. Well as luck would have it that night within two targets and as many minutes I located the thick men’s wedding ring and handed it back to the grateful owner for searching so quickly by two of Sydneys Pro detectorists as bonus at the cost for one.
Comments (0)
Sep 23 2011
, thank goodness as I can’t work with out it in the surf “essential tool of trade”. Well approx 3 hours passed Brad had to leave for another appointment. Brad paid me in advance my $100 fee being for a local Sydney job. I still had at least 4 hours detecting time in front of me just to cover all the main area they spent time on the beach that day including the dry sand where the sweeper frequents. Night fell and I was still working I took the time to message Brad and Sarah 7:23pm how the search was progressing and not to get their hopes up because of the beach sweeper. In my line of chosen work there is no prize for second place it must be found! 10:06pm I messaged Brad and said I was just about dead, exhausted, but I have widened the search area North and South of the primary search area where we first believed it was lost in. They thanked me for my work and wanted me to go home as they no doubt didn’t want to impose on my services too far, being kind hearted, and considerate as they are. I assured them I was a night owl and promised them and myself calling up reserves of energy and all important metal detector interpretation focus. ( This is where hiring your own detector can fail - what is the detector really trying to tell you and how do you interpret the signals?) My aim now to finish the extended area 15M wide each south and north (whole swathes of beaches area) in addition to the original search area before I went home.
