Today is my mom’s birthday. She helped with a recovery today. She held off the rain until I was able to complete helpin Angela find her very sentimental pendants. 

It wasn’t easy, but we got it done. 

Read the whole story here.

I was contacted by a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer asking if I would answer some questions about being a Ring Finder. 

We spent about 20 minutes on the phone. He then told me that a photographer would be calling me to set up a photo shoot. That took place a week later.  But they were not really sure if they were going to run the article.

Well a few weeks later my phone started blowing up. The article was published on Sunday September 8, 2019. 

Here is the link to the article:

https://www.inquirer.com/news/ring-finders-dave-milstead-rich-hageny-chris-turner-20190908.html

My latest recovery happened today. See the full story here.

Jonathan bought a metal detector to find his wife’s lost earring. He tested the machine with the earring that she didn’t lose. He couldn’t get the detector to detect it. He requested my help. 

When you lose something, don’t waste time or money on renting or buying a metal detector. Call a professional. The sooner you call the better the chances we can recover your prized possession. 

This is a feel good story. The gentleman  in the picture was a pitcher for the A’s in 1972. They won the World Series. He was recently in Ocean City NJ. He lost his ring. 

Someone, without a metal detector found his ring. They knew it was special and turned it into to the police. It was returned. 

There are still good people in the world!!

Click here to read the news article. 

I just posted 2 new successful recoveries. 

• Mt Laurel Playing with the dog
• Campground Lake Lost Mother’s Ring

I have been very busy. I have had success and some items I could’t find. One of the unsuccessful recoveries was lost 7 years ago over a very large area. 

When you lose something take many mental notes.

• Look at your surroundings, what are you near?
  • Trees?
  • Fence?
  • Buildings?
• What direction were you facing?
• Can you use your phone to get coordinates?
• Use your phone to take pictures of the area.
• What time of day?
• If you are in water how deep is the water where you are?
• Can you leave something to mark the location?
• What activity were you doing?

Contact me as soon as possible!

Some days you just need to be lucky.

I went to do a recovery yesterday on a property of about a half an acre. I was prepared for a long search. They weren’t even sure it was lost in the yard.

As they were explaining to me what they think happened, I looked down a saw the ring. My metal detector was still in the car. I found it in less than 1 minute. Everyone was amazed.

To read the full story click here.

Luck was on my side for this hunt. You are not going to make a recovery much quicker than this one.

My latest recovery started 47 years ago, click here to read the story.

The woman didn’t want her name or picture used, lost her nursing program ring from the University of Pennsylvania 47 years ago. Small world, her husband knew my grandmother. We have another happy client.

I will be posting a message in the near future about the search for 6 gold bars. Stay tuned!!

My latest recovery story is posted. You can find it by clicking here.

We are into the raking and shoveling season. I get a lot of calls for recoveries this time of year. The cold weather makes your fingers shrink and rings just fall off. In Southern NJ we already had our first measurable snowfall. I have read stories of lost items in the snow already.

If you lose something, call a professional right away. It will increase the chances of a successful recovery.

Today I was able to help in the recovery of a class ring, that an 81-year-old man lost last night while attending a fundraising event.

I searched for a little over 2 hours with y metal detector, but Joe, his son spotted it as I was closing in on the ring. Joe was so happy that the ring was found. He couldn’t stop laughing and smiling.

To read the full story click here.

Customer service. Something that is hard to find these days. Usually, you just get lip service.

I recently had plans to go metal detecting at two different places in one day. I wanted to use my new detector but need a special piece of equipment to use it. I reached out to my local metal detector dealer, Joe DeMarco of DeMarco Detector Sales, where I buy all of my detectors and other treasure hunting supplies, to see if he had what I needed. Unfortunately, he did not, but neither does anyone else on the east coast.

Joe said he would see what he could do. He would be at the second spot that I planned to detect later that day. This discussion took place three days before the day we were planning to detect.

I arrive early at my first spot, and who is there waiting for me? That right you guessed it, Joe. He found someone who had the equipment I needed and let me borrow it for the day. Joe went out of his way to make sure I was able to use my newest detector. This spot was 30 minutes farther than he was planning to go detecting.

Joe stayed and detected with me. I believe because of his actions that morning karma played a role in Joe finding the biggest and best gold item that day. After a few hours of detecting, we went to the second location. The detector performed awesomely. I came home with several gold rings and an assortment of other bling.

If you are thinking of buying a metal detector, you need to buy from DeMarco Detector Sales. Awesome work Joe and excellent customer service.

I’ve always thought about getting a metal detector. How do I get started? I hear these things all the time when I tell people about my hobby. There is now a website that can answer all of the questions for anyone who is interested in metal detecting.

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Metal Detecting

So if you are thinking about getting into metal detecting, give this site a try!

Happy Detecting!!

I was surfing the internet and came across this story. Another metal detectorist (Leon Jones) found a USA Olympic ring and researched who the owner was. Made contact and returned the ring.

To read the full story click here.

It was a USA Olympic Curling ring. This is a quote from John Landsteiner (the true owner of the ring) “The coolest thing about this whole thing is he had the honesty and integrity to try find me and return it”.

A big SHOUT OUT to Leon Jones for putting the hobby of metal detecting in a positive spotlight for the work to see!!

Dave

The Metal Detecting Man Continue reading Detectorist Finds Lost Olympic Ring and Returns It. →

The Philadelphia ABC affiliate 6ABC did a story on the ring I found earlier in the week. That was the “Ocean Tried To Claim Another Wedding Ring” post.

Here is a link to a copy of the story that aired on Friday, August 10 at 4pm & 5pm, click here. This is the second time the press has done a story on one of my recoveries in 1 months time. In July there was an article in the SandPaper, a local paper on Long Beach Island.

I guess that my 15 minutes of fame are almost up…

This week I had another successful recovery. I was able to help another 1st responder. You can read the full story here: Most recent recovery

Typical story for beach losses. He put suntan lotion on, enters the water with slippery hands, cold water shrinks his fingers and while playing with his son in rough water the ring flies off.

His wife posted the loss to her friends on Facebook. A friend of hers referred me. I went down at night to make the recovery. I was able to pull the ring from the grips of Davey Jone’s Locker.

One of my recent recoveries in Long Beach Township, on Long Beach Island, made the local paper. The SandPaper published an article that was written by Jeanette, who had lost her rings and I was able to find them for her. You can see the article here: SandPaper.net

This is what Jeanette wrote:

Life Lesson #63: Never wear jewelry to the beach.
Life Lesson #64: If you do, never take it off to apply suntan lotion.

Here is a link to a feel-good news story.

http://www.wfmz.com/news/video-lost-wedding-ring-returned/767369089

A woman out walking her dog found a wedding ring. She didn’t think, Finders Keepers, she was able to find the owner and return the ring.

Last week I received a call asking if I could search for a lost class ring. Bill thinks that he lost it in his front yard. I started to ask the normal questions like: What were you doing? Is it in grass, dirt, water? And so on.

Bill stated that he was shoveling snow, ok it is summer now. He said the ring was new and it was bothering him while shoveling. So he took it off and put it in his pocket. He forgot about it and noticed 2 days later that the ring was gone.  He was reading stories about “Ring Finders”, did a search and found me.

Here is the kicker, IT WAS LOST IN THE 1960’s. 50+ years ago. I told him I would be over later in the day to look. It was a small yard. I grid searched in one direction. No luck. Searched in the other direction. The ring is not there. Bill was happy that I looked but disappointed that I didn’t find it. If I did it would have made one heck of a story…

I had an unexpected day off. So I charged my new toy (Equinox 800) and took it out for some dirt fishing.

The sounds are a lot different, it will take some time to get used to. I went to an old nearby sledding hill that had been heavily searched by many people. I stayed for about an hour.

I found a few coins and a lot of slaw (pieces of mowed aluminum cans). I did pull out a 14k white gold ring. It is damaged but it has 2 small diamonds in it. Not bad for its 1st time!!

I recently received a call to see if I could locate 3 property markers. We set a date for a few days later.

I went to look for the first one. There were a lot of targets in the area but not the one I was looking for. about 30 minutes later I went to the second location. Within 1 minute I located that one.

Off to the third location. That one was tricky. There was a hollow metal fence post covering that one, but it didn’t take long to locate it. Back to the first one. I searched again with no luck. There was a new section of cement in the sidewalk in the area the post should be located. I am wondering if it was pulled out when they were replacing the sidewalk.

2 out of three isn’t bad. The client was very happy.

My full-time job is a paramedic. I often surf the internet looking at ring return videos. This one caught my eye because the woman who lost her rings is a paramedic.

Awesome work guys!!

Spring is here so that means lost ring season is just around the corner. I just recently found a set of rings for a very upset owner. It was her engagement ring & wedding ring. I didn’t think that there would be a good outcome. To read about it, click here.

I have more key finds after snow storms, this past winter. They were all quick recoveries.

Just a reminder, if you lose something call a professional. Don’t waste your time and money renting or buying a metal detector. It takes years to learn how to properly use a metal detector.

I went out on another search for a ring of keys. John lost them while raking leaves. See the full story here: Leaves

We all do it, put our keys in our pockets or wear jewelry while doing yard work. It’s good for me because I keep getting calls for service. Here is a Public Service Announcement (PSA), leave your keys and valuables in the house while you are working in the yard.

I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Holiday Season.

My latest recovery has been posted:

Yard work claims another wedding ring in Medford NJ

This is my second wedding ring recovery in Medford this year.

So many rings are lost doing yard work, especially in the fall and spring, when the temperatures are still cool. Your fingers shrink because of the cool air, which makes it easier for rings to come off. As in this story, the ring was nowhere near where he thought that he lost it. He stated that there was no way that it would be in this section of the yard.

I always expand the search area if I don’t find the lost item in the areas that I was directed to. In this case, as many others, expanding the search area paid off.

If you lose a metal item, call a professional to assist in helping you in locating your lost items.

Went out this morning in the rain, to try to recover a ring that was lost several years ago. I was out there in bright yellow rain gear from head to toe. Trisha contacted me several months ago. Today was the day to make the recovery.

You can read the full story here: Ring Lost Several Years Ago…

If you have lost something, never give up hope. Trisha has been thinking about this ring a lot lately and reached out to see if we could help.

Continue reading New Recovery in Levittown PA →