2 new recoveries in 3 searches. The one unsuccessful search was in York, PA. It was for a small stud earring. 

The 1st recovery was on Halloween. It turned out to be a search in the house after the necklace and 3 rings were not found outside. See the full story here. 

The second recovery was in Wilmington DE, I got the call as I was leaving York, PA. See the full story here.

My busy season is upon us, fall yard works causes a lot of lost jewelry. 

I made a 250 mile round trip to Connecticut to look for a ring. I found a ring, but not the ring that I was looking for. 

It was a rainy, messy Saturday morning. Traffic was light. We searched the small search area for almost 2.5 hours. Ken was a FDNY firefighter, that has retired. I thought this would be a great thing to do, 1 first responder helping a retired first responder. 

To read the full story click here.

I beautiful platinum ring was lost 18 years ago while gardening. The loss created a lot of heartache for Audrey. She is putting her home up for sale and moving to Florida in a few weeks. Her son asked me to look for the ring. She desperately wants to have it back. It was her mother’s ring.

The Metal Detecting Man to the rescue. The ring is back where it belongs. The joy brought to this woman, by finding this lost ring made my year. 2020 may be depressing, but this return brightened up the rest of the year. 

Click here to read the full story.

A friendly game of football on the beach between brothers results in a lost chain and pendant. 

A nice day at the beach on a Saturday afternoon, in Ventnor NJ resulted in a panicked phone call to the Metal Detecting Man. I responding right away. 

This is the third football loss in the last couple of months. Chains and stud earrings are the hardest things to find with a metal detector. Success is not always possible. It doesn’t mean that I won’t try. I want you to have you lost items back. 

To read the full story click here.

My latest recovery involved a hearing aid with a very small amount of metal. My detectors had a very hard time with it, even after trying a lot of different settings. Frank was pretty upset that he lost it. It would have cost several thousands of dollars to replace it. 

It took a while, but I got the job done.

Click here to read the full story!

Playing football on a chilly day during the Memorial Day Weekend caused some heartache. Dean’s son lost a family Chai charm from a necklace. Kids will be kids, a chain was grabbed and snapped, the charm when flying, and quickly sank in the soft sand. It didn’t help that the wind was blowing sand all around. 

The lifeguards suggesting looking for people with metal detectors and Dean found me! A short time later It was in Dean’s hands. 

Read the full story here.

I received another search request earlier this week for a lost wedding ring. Paul was cleaning out ivy from his back yard. When he went inside & washed his hands he saw that his wedding ring was missing. 

I went over to his place after work. He showed me the area and I searched for all of 2 minutes before I uncovered his ring. The bonus he invited me back to search for artifacts. His house dates back to 1806. 

To read the full story click here.

April 25th was a beautiful day to search for a ring. It was a 45-minute ride to West Chester PA. The search took 2 minutes. Well worth it though. I was glad that I was able to find it. The owner of the ring was relieved that she has the ring back.

Social distancing was in place. There were no handshakes or hugs. It was nice to get out and fire up my metal detector.

If you lose something, call a professional. This family spent may hours searching for this ring.

Read the full story here.

Quinn was playing touch football when he touched a player on the other team. This person got mad and grabbed his collar, which in turn broke a chain that held a small gold cross.

This cross was given to him by his grandparents for his First Holy Communion. Well it was lost. His mom called The Metal Detecting Man. We were able to recover it.

See the full story here along with a video of Quinn’s reaction when he realizes that I found it. 

I do not know Gus, but this is an awesome story I had to share:

DOVER, New Jersey — Sometimes you lose something very special and you think you will never see it again.

A New Jersey woman felt that way about her high school ring. Now, Elaine Hoffman, 69, can finally sport her ring she got when she was 18 years old.

“I know we went back to look for it, I do remember that,” said Hoffman.

The then18-year-old returned to Hurd Park in Dover, New Jersey several times in a fruitless search of the ruby and 14-karat gold Morris Hills High School ring with the Scarlet Knight mascot on the side and her initials on the other.

Those initials were the only thing Gus Seretis could go by after finding the ring 50 years later while scanning the park with his metal detector this past July.

“Oh my God, gold…take it, clean it off…popped out the little plug inside where the little finger hole is, I see MS. I’m like ‘I can return this if I can find the person,'” Seretis said.

Seretis says he could have gotten about $80-$100 for the ring for the price of the 14-karat gold, but he knew it was worth way more than half of it would be to him.

“In the metal detecting community, it’s kind of like an unwritten code that if you can return it, you do return it,” Seretis said.

He spent two months trying to find the 1968 graduate with the initials ‘EMS’ and was only able to do so with the help of the Morris Hills High School Alumni Facebook group.

“It was sweet of Gus to take the time to research, find out who it belongs to. HE could have just taken it and gotten money for it, and moved on,” Hoffman added.

To See The ABC 7 News Footage Click Here

I went out for a recovery today in the dense fog. It would be my 1st recovery of the new year. Taylor’s wife found their puppy covered in poo, and rushed to clean him off. Sometine during the cleaning, she lost a gold diamond ring that was her grandmothers.

This was back in October. They bought a detector with no luck. Spent hours on their hands and knees searching by hand. No luck. One day while sitting on his porch, Taylor found my website. A week later the ring was found.

To read the full story click here.

Spread the word, if you lost something metal call a professional. Don’t waste time and money buying a metal detector.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

As I sit back and look at 2019, it was a really good year for returning lost items to people. I can only hope that 2020 will be even better.

People always ask why do I return items? Why not keep it or sell it? I have dedicated my life to helping people. I started back in 1976 when I started volunteering for my local ambulance squad. I got my Red Cross First Aid certification, became an EMT in 1980, a paramedic in 1985, and became a Flight Medic in 1988.

It was 1992 that I started metal detecting. As I started to find items, I would wonder how it was lost, what was the owner doing to try to find it? Could I somehow find the owner?

I joined the local metal detecting club. We started a program where we offered our services to law enforcement, to assist in solving crimes. I have a plaque in my office from a County Prosecutors Office thanking me for helping them convict two carjackers. Five of us found some of the stuff they tossed while being chased by the police in the snow.

My 1^st item that I found & was able to return happened in Ocean City NJ. I was on the beach detecting, my wife was reading, and a young girl came up to me and asked if I could help find her religious necklace & charm that was given to her for her 1^st communion. I went to the area and searched. I didn’t have any luck and she and her family needed to leave. They gave me a pager number to call if I found it.

About 10 minutes after they left, I found it. I called the pager number, from a payphone and entered the number. This was before everyone had a cell phone. My wife and I waited for a while by the payphone. After a long wait we were getting hungry and went to the boardwalk for something to eat. While walking on the boardwalk, we see the girl and her family standing in line for a famous pizza shop, Mack & Manco. The dad came over a said thank you very much for searching. It was obvious he didn’t get my message. I pulled out the necklace and charm and the girl started to cry.

Since then, I have tried to return the items I find. The look on people’s faces when they see an item that they thought would be lost forever is priceless. The hugs aren’t bad either.

If you lose something call a professional right away. Don’t waste your time or money renting or buying a metal detector. It takes years of experience to learn how to operate a detector properly.

I hope you all have a SAFE & HAPPY 2020.

Jordon sent me an email yesterday. I called him as soon as I read the email. He was panicked. While on the beach proposing to his girlfriend, he opened the ring box and it was empty. She thought that she was being punked. Jordon thinks that the ring fell out of the box when he opened it. Neither one of them noticed because they were looking into each other’s eyes. 

It was late in the day and I couldn’t get down until morning. I told him I would be there by 6 am.

Jordon continued to look for help. He was able to get a hold of my friend Jeff (we were profiled together in SJ Magazine). Jeff was able to get to the beach last night in the dark. It took Jeff 10 minutes to find the ring. He was able to read the beach and see where it looked like a search had taken place. He found it before Jordon and his dad got to the beach to show Jeff the area. He surprised them when they arrived.

I am so happy for Jordon that Jeff was able to save the day. We have a GREAT group of detectorists in South Jersey that want to reunite people with their lost items. I am proud to be apart of this group. 

If you lose something, call a professional quickly. Take pictures of the area. If you can get GPS numbers, that is a huge help. Mark the area with something. Take note of the time that helps in looking to see where the tide is. Pray to St Anthony. If it is there, I WILL find it.

Happy Holidays

I received a paniced phone call the other day. A husband who was playing basketball in the yard lost his whit gold wedding ring. They searched for a long time and searched the internet. My contact info popped up. I agreed to meet after work.

One should never assume. I thought since there was a basketball court inthe yard that there would be lights. Nope! I didn’t bring my flash light, and it was dark.  I also didn’t expect rain, it started to pour. I didn’t have my rain gear,  It was a fairly large area that included woods.

The Metal Detecting Gods were on my side that night. It was a quick find in less than 5 minutes. I thought that I would be there for hours. I did use my detective skills and started the search in the area I thought that the ring might be in after asking many questions.

I learned to always take my light and rain gear al all searches.

To read the full story click here!

If you are going to be outside this holiday season, putting up decorations, be mindful of your rings. The temperature is usually chillier, causing your fingers to shrink. You will be putting on and taking off gloves. All of this will cause your rings to come off. A lot of the time unnoticed by you.

This happened to Thomas this week. He was putting up Christmas Lights on his house as he will be on the local must-see displays of lights this year. When he was finished for the day he noticed that his replacement ring was not on his hand. Read the full story here.

If you do lose something metal, give a professional a call. Renting or buying a metal detector is not a good option. It takes years to learn how to operate them properly.

Happy Holidays!!

I went out today to look for a ring that was lost several years ago. Using top of the line metal detecting equipment, I was able to find the lost ring in about 15 minutes.

I was able to make Walt’s day. He had spent so many hours over the years looking for his wife’s ring. He saw the Philadelphia Inquirer article seveal months ago that I was featured in.

To read the full story click here.

I went out for a ring recovery today. The gentleman lost his ring while out walking in the cold. He was trying to flick his cigarette and his ring flew off. It wasn’t and easy search, there were a lot of thorns involved.

To read the full story click here.

Smoking is not good for your health, and I guess your jewelry too.

I had another successful recovery this rainy Sunday morning. It starts off with a 5 y/o little girl, a new set of handcrafted gold earrings from Portugal from her grandmother. Well one of the earrings is lost. Family goes to local rental store to rent a metal detector. Said detector won’t make a sound when they tested it over the remaining earring. 

An internet search turns up my information. We set up a date & time. Moral of the story is, if you lose something metal and you want it found, don’t waist time trying to figure out a detector on your own. It takes years of practice to become efficient with detectors. Let a professional assist you!

Read the full story here!

Back in September while I was on vacation, I made a recovery in Atlantic City NJ. It was a team effort. It was a beautiful ring. The stone was handed down thru the family. 

Click here to read the full story. 

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!