Travelling ring

[VBDave]

Lots of regulars in the lane today. Had a young couple ask me if I'd found a gold Claddough ring the girl had just lost 45 minutes ago while throwing a football in chest deep water. I looked for a few minutes but the tide was turning and I was getting beat. They thanked me for looking and I headed for shallower water. A half hour later, half a block south in shin deep water, I hit the ring. I thought it couldn't possibly be the same ring, that far away in such a short time. It weighed maybe 4 DWT, 14K., with "friends forever" inscribed inside. I pouched it and hunted back north, hoping to run into the couple again. If she gave me the inscription, it was hers. She found me again, asking if I'd had any luck. I asked if there was anything inside the ring, and sure enough, it was hers. I got the requisite soaking wet, bikini clad, legs off the ground hug and kiss for my troubles and all was well with her world.

I asked if she was sure where she lost it, she said she felt and saw it come off when she threw the ball,l and they had been looking for it in the exact spot when I came by the first time. I pointed to where I found it, she said they'd never been down that end of the block. I've never seen a ring of that weight travel so far so fast. Anybody else every see this?

 

[Sanddigger]

n/t

 

[Sand Scoop]

a crab or fish grabbed it while it was settling and it hitched a ride down the beach..

 

[deerman]

great to see she got it back and as for it travling down the beach if the current is running hard it may be pushing her down the beach without her knowing it so she might have thought she lost it were
she was when she saw you when in fact she lost it were you found it ! Yes the wave action can move heavy objects down a beach but it would take 75 knot winds or better to push it that far in that short of time.

 

[OUTATIME]

I usually find that gold pretty much stays where it's lost, at least for the short term.
I had a guy come up to me once asking if I could help him find his gold wedding band.
I asked "where did you lose it?"
He pointed toward the water, well I told him "I'm not going in there!"
The waves were 6ft high at the time, as bad as I've ever seen it - atleast without a hurricane to cause it.

Well, a week later with calm waters. Exactly where that guy said he lost the ring; I find a man's gold band!
Unfortunately, I didn't think to get the guys name or number. With the wind and waves being so bad I figured the guys ring was long gone.

HH
OUTATIME

 

[Craig-PI]

Rings do travel... they don't always drop and stay put... if the tides are strong enough and the currents then that ring and others will travel... when I hunt a beach I hunt away from the actual swimming area because I know rings no matter how heavy will travel...

 

[JEAN IN MIAMI]

Dave--you are a credit to our hobby--a real class act. Most hunters would have just fled with their gold. I promise you that girl will never forget what you did, and great things will come to you in return.

 

[VBDave]

Thank you, Jean. I started this hobby because I thought it would be a good way to relax and get away from the stresses of police work. It has been just exactly that for me, though not without moments of having to stand up to my demons. After about a year of pretty successful hunting, I started to think I was "pretty good". I let my competitive spirit take hold and started not enjoying myself on those frequent days when I came home with no gold. Had to re-calibrate and remember what was important.

I still correct people when they refer to me as a "biker", because I equate that with leather jackets and bad attitudes. I tell them I'm a "motorcyclist". Same goes with the term "pirate" in this pursuit. I rather be known as "that geek with the metal detector".

 

[Cupajo]

Dave returning the ring is the mark of a man of values and as a Fellow Metal Detector Hobbiest I'm proud of you.

I have returned 35 gold rings over the years since 1982 when I started the hobby and don't regret a one.

Many of them were rings I had been asked to find and a few were rings in my possesion when I was asked if I might have found them.

There are few things that reflect as well on our hobby and none that can give me as much pleasure as the joy of returning such a lost item to the rightful owner!

As for the ring traveling, I can concieve of the ring in the right current on some ocean beaches moving quite a distance.

Where I hunt along the Connecticut shore the mostly protected water is less prone to move objects and I found and returned one gold ring that I'm sure was within a few feet of where it had been lost 40 years before (based on what the owner told me and a complete understanding of the wave action, current and bottom conditions.)

Congrats on the find and kuddos for returning it to its owner,

CJ

 

[briley59]

I try and see any marking on a ring and get them back when possible. I have only been MD ing for a total of six months and to date have returned 3 rings and have two currently trying to locate owner to give back. I believe that from this I have received many rings where the owner is either not in the equation or the owner failed to give the information to the lifeguards as they were advsied to do so if I did find it.. I cannot help that they felt that it would be a waste of time and did not bother. It is pretty sad when no one believes that there are good honest people in the world and cannot believe anything someone tells them. But this is society today and until we see it for what it is and other also we cannot change. I have more pride in the three retunred rings which some where valuable than I do of all the others combined. I cannot tell you how it makes you feel to see a wife learn you found her husbands wedding band lost two weeks earlier and the shoch when he shows her while I observe from a distance, All I can say is my hat is off to you and WAY TO GO,