Well, just got back from our annual 2 week vacation in Sea Isle City, NJ. The finds weren't the best because of the recent beach replenishment but still had a great time anyway.
One night I had just hit the beach for one of my evening hunts when I was approached by a young man asking if he could borrow my detector to find a lost ring. I told him no but if he knew where it was lost I'd find it. Walked over with him to a family of about a dozen or so who told me one of the young ladies had lost a Tiffany double heart ring that was an heirloom handed down from her grandmother. They were pretty upset and had been searching for 45 minutes or so. I asked where it was lost, they showed me an area about 20' x 30' in the dry sand. I assured them that if it was there I'd find it. Ran a grid pattern north to south but only found a few pieces of junk and a quarter. Figuring I missed it, I searched east to west, no joy. So I decided to expand my search area another 4' or 5' along the perimeter of the area already searched. Still no luck so I asked if they were sure it was lost in the sand and not in the surf. They were sure it was in the area they showed me. 15 minutes had gone by and I'm starting to have doubts whether I'd be able to find the ring. So I expand my area a bit more and within 5 minutes, Bingo! I asked what it looked like, they described it to a T and when I handed it over, there were happy faces all around. The mother handed me a twenty apologizing that that's all they had. I tried to refuse the money but they wouldn't take no for an answer. Just seeing the smile on that lady's face was enough for me. The only regret was that I had no camera to preserve the happy moment. Turns out the lady had taken her ring off earlier and put it in a plastic baggie so she wouldn't lose it. At the end of the day she took out the baggie to put the ring back on and the wind caught the bag, started to blow away and dumped the ring in the sand.
Funny thing, on my way home to Massachusetts I gave that twenty to a guy at a rest stop in Connecticut who needed gas because his ATM card wouldn't work (I checked to make sure his tank was empty and saw him use it for gas). He was truly embarrassed and very grateful. Told him I'd hope someone would help me out if I was in the same situation.
The finds were meager for the 2 weeks but I did find some silver and gold. I'll post the pics in a later post.
One night I had just hit the beach for one of my evening hunts when I was approached by a young man asking if he could borrow my detector to find a lost ring. I told him no but if he knew where it was lost I'd find it. Walked over with him to a family of about a dozen or so who told me one of the young ladies had lost a Tiffany double heart ring that was an heirloom handed down from her grandmother. They were pretty upset and had been searching for 45 minutes or so. I asked where it was lost, they showed me an area about 20' x 30' in the dry sand. I assured them that if it was there I'd find it. Ran a grid pattern north to south but only found a few pieces of junk and a quarter. Figuring I missed it, I searched east to west, no joy. So I decided to expand my search area another 4' or 5' along the perimeter of the area already searched. Still no luck so I asked if they were sure it was lost in the sand and not in the surf. They were sure it was in the area they showed me. 15 minutes had gone by and I'm starting to have doubts whether I'd be able to find the ring. So I expand my area a bit more and within 5 minutes, Bingo! I asked what it looked like, they described it to a T and when I handed it over, there were happy faces all around. The mother handed me a twenty apologizing that that's all they had. I tried to refuse the money but they wouldn't take no for an answer. Just seeing the smile on that lady's face was enough for me. The only regret was that I had no camera to preserve the happy moment. Turns out the lady had taken her ring off earlier and put it in a plastic baggie so she wouldn't lose it. At the end of the day she took out the baggie to put the ring back on and the wind caught the bag, started to blow away and dumped the ring in the sand.
Funny thing, on my way home to Massachusetts I gave that twenty to a guy at a rest stop in Connecticut who needed gas because his ATM card wouldn't work (I checked to make sure his tank was empty and saw him use it for gas). He was truly embarrassed and very grateful. Told him I'd hope someone would help me out if I was in the same situation.
The finds were meager for the 2 weeks but I did find some silver and gold. I'll post the pics in a later post.