Kids Reunite WWII Vet With Dog Tag

Though not a MD find, I'd be willing to bet that due to this find, these couple kids will join our hobby community in the near future. A nice video to accompany the story on the jump.

"A prized possession lost for more than six decades has been returned to its rightful owners this week, thanks to some pint-sized treasure hunters in Carterville.

Maddox Crain, 6, and Gauge Mitchell, 8, discovered an old military dog tag while they were playing near their daycare this week.

'He was just going across the bridge and I was behind him, and I just looked at the dirt and see if I could jump over. And I just saw a necklace sticking out of the ground,' said Crain.

The necklace was actually a World War II-era dog tag with a ring attached. The boys dug it out of the dirt and took it to the woman who runs their daycare to settle a dispute."

Read more HERE.

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.

Canada Man Turns Hobby into Recovery Business

"Andrea Bielecki was slamming some last-minute flowers into her front garden this summer when she slipped her wedding band and 1.5-carat diamond engagement ring into her bra so she wouldn’t lose them.

Company was coming, she had an eye on her toddler and it was only for a minute.

Then her daughter ran into the neighbour’s yard and Bielecki had to chase her, her mom arrived with groceries to be unloaded, Bielecki swept up some leaves in the backyard and suddenly it was bedtime.

Her wedding ring tumbled out of her clothes. Her engagement ring did not."

Read more HERE.

Check out Mark Ellis at Ellis Metal Detecting Service.

Image Credit: Keith Beaty \ Toronto Star

Eastern Shore Treasure Seekers

 
"While many lost items are of significant value, they're usually priceless to their owners. That's why a band of metal detector enthusiasts are breaking out their gear in preparation for the hunt.

'You'll never know the feeling of finding something that means something to somebody ... unless you've done it,' said Salisbury resident Bill Draper. 'It's really a unique feeling -- a feeling $1,000 doesn't buy.'

Draper is the co-founder of Shore Seekers Artifact & Recovery Club, an organization formed in 1988 for the purpose of enjoying the hobby of metal detecting with fellow enthusiasts who specialize in reuniting people with their lost items."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Chuck Snyder \ Delaware Wave

Looking to Return Wedding Band in WA

A member of the same detecting club in Washington as one of our followers and fellow blogging peer "cjc" of the Beep-Beep blog was recently in the local news in their area trying to return a wedding band he has discovered.

"Rick Razor is a member of The Cascade Treasure Club and has been a metal detector enthusiast for more than a decade.

In that time he has found a lot of valuable stuff, but of all the treasures he's discovered it is a gold wedding band he found in Idylwood Park in Redmond in 2007 that haunts him because he's been unable to return it to the owner.

It is engraved with a wedding date and Rick hopes that will make it easy to identify."

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.

Cheesman Ring Hunt

It has seemed like forever since I've been able to get out and hunt. This morning around 10a I got a call from my hunting buddy Troy regarding him heading out towards downtown Denver in search of a lost wedding set he had been in contact with a woman about. I agreed to tag along and by 1130a we were on the case.

We met up at Cheesman Park and my first thought was, wow... this is a lot of real estate to cover. Turns out it is about 80 acres worth of old trees and nicely groomed grass that had been a park since 1907, and was previously a cemetery that opened in 1858 (they even have modern-day ghost bus tours through the park).

The hunt started by hitting the area along the southern side of The Acropolis and fountains. As initially all we had to work on was that the rings where lost roughly in front of the structure on the southern side. We hit the area pretty intensely for a couple hours, and besides a couple dollar or more pocket spills I came across, there wasn't much to be said for the area.

Troy got on the horn and contacted the lady to get help narrow down the search. Sadly, the area was still a good 2-3 acres of land to cover, and after an hour or so of no luck, a thunderstorm rolled in and rained us out. Throughout the entire hunt we saw at least four other hobbyists scouring the area, likely searching for the same rings as a Craigslist ad was posted on the subject.

It was a great few hours of swinging the coil, really happy to have gotten out, especially since I don't so often anymore. I did manage $3.49 over 38 coins though, so the day wasn't lost. A '57 Wheatie, small pile of keys, pulltabs, broken sunglasses, and other miscellaneous metal scrap rounded out the afternoon.

One last thing to add. Today was the first time I've actually used my new Garrett ProPointer on a hunt. I've been a true blue Vibra-Probe 570 guys since I started the hobby. I REALLY enjoyed the Garrett, but did have one negative to throw out there. Apparently this is a known issue, but it's something that on my Vibra-Probe it wasn't an issue. I'm very used to jamming the VP 570 into a hole and being pretty rough with it, even slightly bending it in tight spaces to get the direction of a target. With the Garrett, you can't do this. Well, you can, but it causes the thing to false. I added a little video illustrating the point.

NC Man Finds What Folks Lose

"Using a metal detector, Ray Cox finds coins, cell phones, keys and rings on the beaches of New Hanover County. He also finds a lot of less obvious things, from cooking equipment to brass knuckles.

Last year, the Wilmington resident became a beach discovery himself.

In May 2010, a physics professor in Canada found a message in a bottle Cox threw into the sea in 1961. The message said: 'IF FOUND PLEASE WRITE TO: Jesse Ray Cox, 106 Lake Shore Dr. Wilmington, North Carolina. May 21, 1961 2044.' (The 2044 refers to 8:44 p.m. in military time.)

During a visit to Nova Scotia in September, seeing the message again was an emotional experience for Cox, a normally unemotional person."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Jeff Janowksi / StarNews

Lost Purple Heart - Ralph Perry

"Irma Garcia of Kennewick is on a mission to find the veteran who lost the Purple Heart medal she found last weekend.

All she has to go on is the name engraved on the medal's back -- Ralph E. Perry.

Garcia said she found the medal Sunday in the park adjacent to Horse Heaven Hills Middle School in Kennewick."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Bob Brawdy / Herald

Rallygoers Recover Ring

"A holidaymaking family have hailed two men at a Huttoft metal detecting rally after they came to their rescue when an engagement ring went missing on a local beach.

Sarah Lawrence, who hails from Cambridgeshire, was left distraught after she lost her treasured ring when her family were playing a game of volleyball on the beach in Sandilands on Saturday.

Sarah’s husband Chris, said: 'She obviously began to panic as anyone with an engagement or wedding ring would understand.'"

Read more HERE.

Cherished Memories Returned

"It took John Polcyn 15 years, but a recent trip to Maumee Bay State Park to search the area with his metal detector yielded his most cherished find ever.

When he dug a few inches into the dirt and found a memory card from a camera, it seemed like a relatively routine thing. He planned to use the card in his own camera when he went on vacation.

Then he plugged it into his computer, looked more closely, and realized he had something far more precious -- at least to one local family."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: The Toledo Blade

Ring Found in Joplin Carnage

"A group of James River Assembly volunteers couldn't help but notice an 84-year-old Joplin man patiently searching the wreckage of his home with a metal detector Monday.

The volunteers, working nearby to rescue family photos, wedding pictures and valuable papers from an adjacent damaged home, walked over to see if they could help."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Mark Schiefelbein

Hobbyist Honored for His Effort

"Bill Baecker set out last Saturday seeking a treasure he would never profit from, but of greater value than anything he had ever searched for.

Metal detector in hand and attuned to a high setting, Baecker walked the lonely, rainy corner of U.S. 42 and Utica Road in Lebanon, the site of tragedy a few days earlier. Shortly after 3 p.m., his detector alerted him to the prize he sought.

Baecker discovered the lost wedding ring of Sgt. Brian Dulle, the sheriff’s deputy killed in a high-speed chase last week, and had it returned to his widow, Abbie Dulle, on the day of Dulle’s funeral. He and two others were honored Friday by the Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Greg Lynch / Dayton Daily News

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

Cali Treasure Seeker

"Ten thousand times every year, Dwight Reed drops to his knees when the hum in his headphones hits a certain pitch, carves up a divot of earth with a hand spade and coaxes something metal out of the soil.

It might be a diamond ring, but usually it's a penny or a bottle cap.

Either way, Reed is perfectly content: Metal detecting, for this long-time Vista resident, is retirement."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Tom Pfingsten / North County Times

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.

Aussie Hobbyist Finds The Lost

"It’s an all too common sight on Sydney beaches: A group of people on their hands and knees at Bondi, Manly or Balmoral, frantically digging through the sand.

Sometimes the lost item is a missing engagement ring. Other times it’s a treasured necklace or even a rare signet ring -- a family heirloom.

Buried among millions of grains of sand, the situation can seem hopeless.

For many years, one person’s loss has been the gain of lone 'metal-detector guys' who scour the beach at sunset looking for the day’s lost treasures."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Michelle Wranik / CNNBO

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.