Ring Returned from San Antonio Lake

"Gerald Hewitt, a 1955 Harlandale High School graduate, has enjoyed his favorite hobby of metal detecting for many years.

In July, Hewitt took a drive to Jacobs Creek Park in Canyon Lake to hunt for rings.

'I had just got in the water and that was the first signal I got,' said Hewitt, who found a 2011 class ring from McCollum High School."

Read more HERE.

10K Park Gold

Last night before bed, I got a call from Digger Magoo determined that we were going to head back up to Cheesman Park in Denver to give it another go at finding that lost wedding set. I picked him up from his place around 10a this morning and off we went. He said he had spoken with her again and might have narrowed the search a little more than what we were dealing with before.

The tempperature was already rising and with no looming storms currently off in the distance we put the coils to the soil.

The first hour was by far the most exciting. Concentrating much of our efforts within a 2000 square foot area closest to where she parked along curb next to the grass, we really felt this wold be the day to score the gold. Well, we weren't wrong in that thought... it just so happened it wasn't the correct item we were looking for.

I got a jumpy low 20s to mid 30s VDI on my XLT, and knowing what we were looking for, I was digging almost anything that was from about +10 - +50. And knowing that the item would be shallow, anything I could dig less than 3" (especially just using a screwdriver) felt like it could be it. Well this one, at roughly 2.5" just so happened to be a hefty, 10K men's class of '73 ring from Evergreen High School in Evergreen, CO. It has some initials in it, we'll see what I can do in terms of returning it. But leaving for work in the Gulf of Mexico for the next five weeks will most likely limit that venture for a later time.

But I tell you what, as evidence on the picture provided by my good friend Troy, I sure was grinning when this came out of the ground. And truth be told, it's my first gold ring, and first class ring I've ever found. Just never can seem to get the coil over all them lost goodies out there.

We swung around for the next two hours and both of us we're able to round up a few bucks in clad. Troy did happen to come across a sterling silver cased nail file. The file part was rusted to hell, but the silver sure looked nice. I did find another key, and even a sweet little pocket spill of 7 RTD tokens. I know they aren't old, but digging tokens is just plain fun, I don't care who you are.

So though we didn't find what we came for, we sure left with our pouches full of keepers. And that gold ring will be in teh back of my mind for future hunts to come. The clad totaled to $2.21 over 33 coins. And if you're curious, that ring, in the air, comes in at a solid +42/+43 on the XLT.

Happy huntin' folks, and may the next dig be a good one.

Class Ring Returned After 40 Years

"For nearly 40 years, Cathy White believed her beloved 1971 class ring from T.L. Handy High School in Bay City was lost forever — somewhere in the sands at the Bay City State Recreation Area.

White, 57, of Midland was brought to tears Wednesday upon learning the ring had been found and would soon be returned.

'This is a dream come true for me. I still can’t believe it,' White said while slipping the ring on her finger for the first time since she was 17 years old. 'It’s one thing to misplace something and still have hope that you’ll find it, but it was totally different to lose my ring, and know that I would never get it back.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Lauryn Schroeder | Bay City Times

Rutgers Class Ring Found in a Lake

"With her trusty metal detector, Sue Beck has been digging up little Gloucester County treasures for a quarter century.

She's plucked her fair share of nails and soda can tabs out of the dirt around the Elk Township lake where she lives.

But among the bits of trash, she's found decades-old odds and ends that have some value, especially when it comes to the sentimental worth.

'I'm like the pied piper,' said Beck, a 34-year Elk resident. 'Kids and adults follow me around on the main beach. ... I've found so many old things.'

When she finds something good, the metal-detecting hobbyist always tries to return it to its owner even decades after it went missing on the beach or the bottom of Lake Gilman."

Read more HERE.
Original Story posted on Rutgers Media Relations site on May 9th, 2011.

Image Credits: Rutgers Media Relations

Ohio Class Ring Found

A nice article by Margaret Hartmann on Jezebel.com about a class ring returned by a fellow hobbyist.

"After three decades, most high school rings wind up ratting around the bottom of a jewelry drawer, but Karen Price Liebisch says she's excited that her class of 1975 ring has been returned 36 years after she lost it at Northwest High School in Ohio.

Liebisch recently received a letter school saying the ring she misplaced a few weeks before graduation had turned up. Earl Corson found it 20 years ago while using a metal director at Brookville Lake in Indiana, but only turned it in recently.

Liebisch said it only fits her pinkie now, but she plans to have it resized so she can wear it. 'It's nice to find a piece of your past like this,' she said. 'It had a lot of good memories attached to it and I am really happy to have it back.'"

NOTE: Image shown is not of actual ring found.
Image Credits: Gtranquillity / Shutterstock

Decades Old Class Ring Returned

Check out the above video from FOX43... a nice feel good story about a fellow hobbyist finding and returning a class ring from a park.

"A York County man makes quite the find with his metal detector. Larry Daigle was scanning around a tree at an Emigsville park when he struck gold, literally.

'I came out with a big pile of mud, but it was in a clump, a circle, so I knew whatever it was it was round, I said there is a good chance it is a ring,' said Daigle.

It was a ring, a class ring. It was buried about 10 inches in the dirt, under a tree root. Daigle took his finding and cleaned it up. He quickly realized it belonged to a 1993 Northeastern High School graduate. After a little digging at the school, Daigle tracked down the owner, Jerome Weigel."

Read more HERE.

PA Class Ring Returned from FL

"A local family couldn't believe it when they heard from someone at Ford City High School telling them that a class ring that had been missing for more than 40 years had been found in Florida and returned to the school.

The plain gold ring with a picture of the high school building engraved on top belonged to a 1934 graduate of the school, Samuel Saloum. Mr. Saloum died in 1979.

'The family was very excited,' said Jennifer Hrabovsky of Ford City, a teacher at Elderton Elementary School and Samuel's niece. 'It was a nice surprise for everyone.'"

Read more HERE.

68 Yrs and States Away, Ring Returned

"School workers in Campbell County have worked together to help return a lost class ring from 1943.

The Altavista High School ring was found by a man doing metal detecting in a lake near Cleveland, Ohio.

The school system's records clerk and the Altavista guidance office helped connect the initials J.A.P, to Jeannette Pickrel Sullivan, who now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina."

Read more and watch the video HERE.

Lovewell Lake Ring Retrieval

"When Dale Baumbach lost his class ring from Superior High School 39 years ago at Lovewell Lake, he was pretty sure he would never see it again.

An interesting turn of events proved him wrong.

On Father’s Day in 1971 Baumbach was at Lovewell Lake, approximately seven miles south of Superior where he lived at the time and attended high school. He lost his ring while playing football in the lake with friends from Superior and Republic."

Read more HERE.