Category Archives: Returned Treasure

A Private Beach (July 11, 2008)

Returned Treasure, Successful RecoveryFind lost ring with metal detector, how to find a lost ring in snow, how to find lost ring at beach, how to find ring lost in yard, lost jewelry, lost jewelry recovery service, Lost Keys, lost ring Camden County, lost ring Delaware County, lost ring Delaware Valley, lost ring doing yard work, lost ring in snow, lost ring Jersey Shore, lost ring Sea Bright, lost ring tri-state area, metal detector rental, missing property marker, Rent metal detector, The Ring Finders New Jersey

Dave,

I just wanted to formally thank you for the great job you did finding my platinum wedding band. The ring was lost on 100 sq yds of beach for 6 weeks but thanks to your persistence you were able to find it in only an hour.

Losing that ring was a difficult experience due to it’s cost and intrinsic value but thanks to the professionalism you showed during our correspondence and the search process, I knew that I was in good hands. I’m attaching the photo that we took right after the ring was found.

Thanks again for your help.

Good luck in your future treasure hunts!

Troy Kelley
Little Silver, NJ

Playing Catch In The Ocean (August 21, 2013)

Returned Treasure, Successful RecoveryFind lost ring with metal detector, how to find a lost ring in snow, how to find lost ring at beach, how to find ring lost in yard, lost jewelry, lost jewelry recovery service, Lost Keys, lost ring Camden County, lost ring Delaware County, lost ring Delaware Valley, lost ring doing yard work, lost ring in snow, lost ring Jersey Shore, lost ring Ocean City, lost ring tri-state area, metal detector rental, missing property marker, Rent metal detector, The Ring Finders New Jersey

Saw an ad on Craig’s List about a missing wedding ring on the beach in Ocean City. I responded and informed the person that they should remove the post immediately. There are way too many dishonest people around, and the post gave way too much information, including GPS coordinates to the spot. All of our contact was through a Craig’s List email address.

Kate explained that her husband was playing ball at high tide and he felt his ring come off while in the surf. Her day had an app on his phone so the recorded the GPS coordinates. I explained that I would head down the next day at Low tide and give it a shot, but with the information she posted it was probably already found.

I took the hour drive down to the beach with a GPS unit and my detector. I went to the coordinates and marked an X in the sand, the area was dry at low tide. I started a spiral pattern. About 20 feet from the X I had the ring. The inscription matched “09/10/11”. It was only days away from the 2nd anniversary.

I got home and tried to send Kate an email saying that I found the ring, but the email was returned. ‘s What I found out was when you cancel your Craig’s List ad the email expires. Oh boy I have no way to contact her. I tried contacting someone from Craig’s List but got no response. So I posted my own ad stating Kate I found your ring. By now their anniversary had passed.

I waited for weeks, no response. By now their anniversary had passed. I wasn’t ready to give up so I posted it again. Still nothing. My wife wanted me to give up. I said I will post one more time.

About a week later I received a message from a number I didn’t know. It said did you really find my husband’s ring? I wanted to know who this was and how they got my number. She explained who she was and that I had given her my number in one of our emails. She said she was thinking about the ring and was looking on Craig’s List and saw my post. I asked her where we could me to return the ring. Her & her husband live in Boston. They were in Ocean City for vacation when it was lost.

She called her dad and we made arrangements to meet in Phila the following weekend. I met her dad and he said He will keep the ring safe until Thanksgiving when Kate will be down to visit.

A lot of hard work went into returning this ring…

Playing in the Surf (August 8, 2013)

Returned Treasure, Successful RecoveryFind lost ring with metal detector, how to find a lost ring in snow, how to find lost ring at beach, how to find ring lost in yard, lost jewelry, lost jewelry recovery service, Lost Keys, lost ring Camden County, lost ring Delaware County, lost ring Delaware Valley, lost ring doing yard work, lost ring in snow, lost ring Jersey Shore, lost ring Ocean City, lost ring tri-state area, metal detector rental, missing property marker, Rent metal detector, The Ring Finders New Jersey

Made contact with a gentleman who said he lost his wedding band over 2 weeks ago while on the beach. He said the surf was rough and he lost it when it was near high tide at the top of the slope. I said I would look for it but didn’t have much faith because I know that beach gets pounded with many detectors.

I went out at 4 am the next morning. I could see there was someone else with a detector in the area. It was low tide. 20 minutes into the hunt my detector broke. I had to return to my car and drive back to our rental and get another detector. This isn’t a good sign.

I return to the beach and now there are 3 people with detectors in the area. I start a grid pattern, up & back, up and back. At 6:15 am I am worried about time. Adam & I are schedule to go fishing at 8a. I decide I am going to start gridding north & south instead of east to west. At 6:45 I am ready to leave, when I get a good signal. On this detector all metals sound the same so I have no idea what is under the sand.

I look in my scoop and see a gold wedding band. Can this be the ring that I am looking for? When I get back to our place I confirm the inscription, it’s the ring. Wahoo another return!

We made arrangements to meet a few weeks later, since they weren’t from the area. They were so Happy to get their wedding ring returned.

Custom Wedding Band Lost in the Marina (September 9 2013)

Returned Treasure, Successful RecoveryFind lost ring with metal detector, how to find a lost ring in snow, how to find lost ring at beach, how to find ring lost in yard, lost jewelry, lost jewelry recovery service, Lost Keys, lost ring Camden County, lost ring Delaware County, lost ring Delaware Valley, lost ring doing yard work, lost ring in snow, lost ring Jersey Shore, lost ring Ocean City, lost ring tri-state area, metal detector rental, missing property marker, Rent metal detector, The Ring Finders New Jersey

I received a call from John asking if I could help him find his custom made wedding ring. He said he had lost it a few weeks ago in the water. I asked John to give me some more details. He said he was washing his boat with a car wash mitt on his hand. The mitt came off and when he retrieved the mitt and picked it up he saw his ring fall out of it and sink into the bay.

I started asking a lot of questions, the main one being how deep is the water? John’s reply was 4 foot at low tide. I agreed to make the hour drive the following Sunday to meet him at low tide.
I got to the marina about a half an hour before low tide. Yes it was 4 feet deep to the muck, the muck was about another foot. I got into my wetsuit and got into the water. He pointed to the area the ring fell.
Within 2 minutes I had a solid signal. I thought wow this is great, a nice QUICK find I’ll be back home in time to watch the Opening Kickoff of the NFL Season. The muck was so thick in my scoop we need a hose to see what was in it. I had a “Stinkin Lincoln” a penny. I continued the hunt.
The area was quite, not much metal. I had to have John move his boat to broaden the search area. In the next hour and a half I had found 1 penny, 1 Miller Lite can and 4 little washers.
I was getting frustrated and so was John. The tide was coming in and was up to my neck while standing on my tippy toes. John then tells me that he might have moved the ring. He said for the 4 nights after he lost the ring he was in the water with a shrimp net trying to find the ring.
I said I am running out of time and need to get out because of the incoming tide, and I don’t scuba dive. But I want to check this one little area. 2 minutes later I had the ring. What a beautiful gold ring it is.
John was so happy, the look on his face was priceless! I was pumped, great adrenaline rush for an adrenaline junkie!! The people on the dock and the boat next to John’s were amazed that I had found it. They all thought that Davey Jones was now owner of the ring.
John said he will not wear it again until he gets it re-sized.

Below are some words from John:
On August 31st 2012 I was cleaning my boat after a day of reef fishing in OC N.J.
I lost my custom made wedding ring when my hand hit the rub rail. After a week
of searching myself a friend told me about Dave Milsted the ring finder. I
called Dave and set a date for Sept 9 2012 at low tide. Dave showed up on time
and worked very hard for two hours as the tide was rising quickly. Dave found
my priceless ring. I cannot thank him enough.

Best Regards
John R
O.C. N.J

Lost Wedding Band

Returned Treasure, Successful RecoveryFind lost ring with metal detector, how to find a lost ring in snow, how to find lost ring at beach, how to find ring lost in yard, lost jewelry, lost jewelry recovery service, Lost Keys, lost ring Camden County, lost ring Delaware County, lost ring Delaware Valley, lost ring doing yard work, lost ring in snow, lost ring Jersey Shore, lost ring Ocean City, lost ring tri-state area, metal detector rental, missing property marker, Rent metal detector, The Ring Finders New Jersey

To Dave and Larry,
To lose my wedding band in the Ocean on the 10th street beach in Ocean City, N.J. was devastating. If it was in the sand on the beach, I would have held onto a shred of hope, but not in waist deep water during the height of the tourist season! The only people to ask “what to do?” were the lifeguards. They referred me to the South Jersey Metal Detecting Club. We had a laptop with us so we went back to the house and shot you guys an email. You replied instantly with some questions, and it gave me hope of retrieving my wedding band 2 weeks before our 10th Anniversary! A week or so went by and I figured it was time to be realistic. Then came the phone call from Larry! He had found my ring! Under water amidst the crowds of swimmers and boogie boarders, he found my ring! He mentioned it to the lifeguards and they remembered me and my family and told him he may know whose ring it is. I described it to him and I couldn’t believe it! Dave, you and Larry and the rest of your club that enjoy searching and reuniting people with such sentimental objects such as wedding bands are beyond a shadow of a doubt some of the classiest guys I have ever had the privelege to know. Thank you for all that you have done! Thank you from my wife as well. Meeting you guys on that same beach was quite poetic and a real pleasure! I will NEVER forget what you guys have done for me! You’re going on the Christmas card list, but I’ll bury yours on the beach somewhere around Thanksgiving and give you another “heads up”!! Just kidding, ha-ha! Thanks again for everything Guys!!
Sincerely,

Jeffrey W. Richardson
Audubon, PA

Weekend At The Shore (My 1st Recovery)

Returned Treasure, Successful RecoveryFind lost ring with metal detector, how to find a lost ring in snow, how to find lost ring at beach, how to find ring lost in yard, lost jewelry, lost jewelry recovery service, Lost Keys, lost neckless Ocean City, lost ring Camden County, lost ring Delaware County, lost ring Delaware Valley, lost ring doing yard work, lost ring in snow, lost ring Jersey Shore, lost ring tri-state area, metal detector rental, missing property marker, Rent metal detector, The Ring Finders New Jersey

My parents took my 2 kids away to Canada for a long weekend. It just so happened to be my weekend off, so me & the Mrs. headed for Ocean City NJ. We found a nice place to stay Fri & Sat nite, 1 block from the beach. So we headed down early Fri morning. Stopped at Atlantic City on the way down to catch the Titanic Exhibit. Wow some really nice jewelry there. Sure wish I could find something like that.
The life guards leave OC beaches at 5pm on Fridays, so guess who was on the beach at 501pm. I took my XLT because low tide was earlier in the day, so I decided just to do the dry sand for now. No sooner did I step on the sand and turn on my XLT, I was approached by a crying 12 y/o girl. She asked me if I had found anything today. I explained that I just got here, and asked here what she lost. She explained that she lost a silver chain and a charm of St. Mary. I asked her if she had an idea of where it might be. She said yes. She had taken it off and put it on her towel, so she wouldn’t lose it in the water. Well she forgot that she did this and when it was time to leave she lifted her towel and shook all the sand of it. Oooopppppps.
I followed her to the spot. Searching in the sand were her mom, dad, sister and friends. I started to work a grid pattern. Boy the people who visit NJ beaches are SLOBS!! I found a ton of trash and 12 cents. We started to draw a crowd. After about 30 minutes the family thought I would never find it. They were going to leave the beach. I told the dad to give me the address of the place they were staying and leave a phone number. I told them I was only going to be there for 2 nights, they were leaving the next day. He did so, but I could see it in all their faces, they thought they would never see me or the necklace again. He offered me $5 for searching. I declined.
After they left I enlarged the search area. About 10 minutes after they left, guess what I found!!! If St. Mary wasn’t attached, I would have never found this chain. It was so thin!! Well I ran over to my wife and showed her. We left the beach, got changed and went to the boardwalk to make the phone call to meet up with the family. Darn, no-one home just and answering machine. I left my pager number.
The Mrs. & me were starving, so we decided to head to Mack’s & Manco Pizza on the boardwalk. Just as we were entering the building, I was approached by a man. He wanted to thank me for searching for the chain, it was the dad. I could only recognize him by his shirt. I said, we just called & left a message, as I pulled out the chain from my wallet. Well the girl was ready to cry again. Everybody was happy. They couldn’t believe I found it. We traded names, and phone numbers. I told them I might do a small article for one of the hobby magazines. We took a few pictures. The chain was from the girls 1st Holy Communion. She won’t be wearing it to the beach again!! Boy never had such a good feeling. This was my 1st returned item!!!

Cooke Cape May

August 2, 2015Returned Treasure, Successful Recoverymetaldetectingman@gmail.com

Today one of my success stories was used in another blog, the CookeCapeMay blog. The story is titled “Cape May Lost & Found”

He starts by telling a story of a man who lost his wallet. It was found and social media was used to locate the man.

Then the story goes to one of my finds in 2013. It is a very cool feeling when you see one of your stories being used elsewhere.

Strange Request…

September 11, 2013General Metal Detecting, Returned Treasuremetaldetectingman@gmail.com

Tomorrow I am heading out to a private dwelling to search the yard for a lost ring. The owner states she took her ring off in the house to wash her hands. It fell to the floor and the dog ate it. They have checked the dog’s poop but have come up empty. When the dog ate it a few weeks ago there was a lot of rain. They feel that they may have missed checking a few piles.

Hopefully I will have success with my metal detectors. Looking at Google Maps it is not a large yard. The issue I will have is there is a metal fence surrounding the yard. Hoping my Minelab CTX3030 with be able to sort out the signals.

Update: I did not find the ring after searching for 1.5 hours. The women did notify me a few weeks later that they found the ring under the oven. It fell down a small hole in the floor boards.