Going For The Platinum

[CPT_GhostLight]

Last Sunday I got a call from my detecting buddy. He's a member of the same detecting club I'm in and known as the guy you call to find lost rings. He said he got a call from a lady who lost her wedding ring somewhere on her property between the house and her chicken coop and wanted to know if I wanted to help him search for it. I said sure!

I had only done that one time a few weeks before when we were detecting in a park and a parks supervisor came up to him. He thought we were in trouble and promptly started showing the supervisor how we take great care closing our holes, but the supervisor said he didn't care about that. He said he had gotten a call from a lady who had lost her wedding ring a week before at a playground and he wanted to know if we would look for it, which we promptly did. Unfortunately we didn't find that ring.

So we headed out to the mountain property and met the lady and she showed us where she thought she had lost her ring the day before. I thought it must be laying on the ground in plain sight somewhere and this should be easy. Then I saw the chicken coop. Oh boy. I hit inside and outside the coop while my buddy took the trail from the house to the coop. The chickens were pretty well behaved except the rooster who kept giving me the stink-eye. I had a feeling he was just waiting for me to turn my back on him. 

We covered the 200x30 foot area pretty well for several hours, double checking each others search areas. We were about ready to throw in the towl when my partner decided to check the wooden walkway between the house and the garage. There were openings between the slats that the ring could have dropped into so the home owners offered to pull a few slats up to allow the detector access underneath. While they were ripping up the floorboards, I decided to wander back down the path toward the chicken coop to check any areas I may have missed. As I neared the door to the coop a garden hose caught my eye about 25-30 feet down hill from the path. I was going to sweep that area earlier after finishing the coop area, but the owner said she hadn't been down there so not to bother with that area. For some reason the hose intrigued me so I started searching down the hill from the path. When I reached the hose I was picking up the brass fitting with loud and clear 25 on the Nox but also with a lower fainter tone mixed in. I pushed the hose fitting back a bit and got a solid 7 from multiple angles. I couldn't see anything on the ground, so I pulled my pinpointer thinking it was probably foil of some kind while gently scraping away the pine needles and a little dirt and there it was, the ring! A beautiful Platinum wedding set with a 1 ct. center stone surrounded with 2 baggettes and 6 smaller diamonds.  I yelled out, "Bingo!" and the owner and her husband ran down the hill. They were overjoyed and so was I. My first ring recovery! They offered a reward but we politely refused so they insisted that we take a donation for the Metal Detecting Club, for which we were very appreciative. What a day that was!

[King-Of-Bling]

Good job ! You must have been super excited on your 1st ring recovery and a few bucks for your club.

[Valens Legacy]

Nice job and glad you were able to find it for the person.

Glad to see that memories and ring were joined together once again to the woman who lost it.

Good luck on your next outing.

[Gold Seeker]

Kudos to you for a job well done, great detecting outside the box, if you hadn't looked where she said she hadn't gone that ring would of never been found!!

[rvpopeye]

WOW , nice ring !

Your "detector's eye" is pretty sharp ....WTG

 

[GB_Amateur]

Great story, CPT_G.  Another example of not taking the 'eyewitness' account literally.  Could it have rolled down the hill and been stopped by the hose?

Looks like you're making good use of the Coiltek Nox 5"x10" and a Steve shaft.

[CPT_GhostLight]

3 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Great story, CPT_G.  Another example of not taking the 'eyewitness' account literally.  Could it have rolled down the hill and been stopped by the hose?

Looks like you're making good use of the Coiltek Nox 5"x10" and a Steve shaft.

Thanks GB_A! Yessir, I love the Coiltek 10x5 and Steve's Rod on the Nox. A match made in Detector Heaven! 🙂 

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Very Wise strategy on the recovery. And a Beauty too! 

[F350Platinum]

All right Cap'n! Great thing you did there. Another great recovery story, with a rewarding ending. 👍 

And you nailed it with the 10x5! 😁

[schoolofhardNox]

Awesome recovery. Moral of the story .... never give up. 👍