First Successful Gold Recovery for Young Newly Wed

[LawrencetheMDer]

I was metal detecting a SW Florida beach in about 4 ft of water when a young, distressed man approached me with his wallet, keys and cigarettes in his hands. He came out into the water to tell me that he had just lost his wedding ring "right over there", pointing towards the pier. Apparently, he was looking over the railing and playing with his wedding ring when he suddenly dropped it into the water, 20 ft below. Eager to help, I worked my way over there; which was right below his young beautiful wife who was standing on the pier, peering down at me. I started to search the area and almost immediately got a good hit and after 3 scoops (which actually surprised me given it was on the surface) recovered what looked like a large white gold band with diamonds. I asked the kid, who was standing 10 ft away in sallower water, if the ring had diamonds and he said "YES" and I told him I had found the ring. However, as soon as he saw it he said that it wasn't his ring. I stuck the ring in my pouch and went back to searching. No more than 30 seconds later I got another good hit and with one scoop recovered a yellow gold ring with 3 small rows of diamonds. PRESTO! The kid was so happy he hugged me. He asked how much he owed me and I said I was just happy to recover it for them. I haven't seem someone so happy in a long time. His wife, in the mean time, had attracted a crowd and I could she her jumping up and down as he yelled to her that he couldn't believe I found the ring. Some time later, I looked up at the pier and there they were looking down at me working the surf and they both smiled and he gave a thumbs-up! Now that really made my day.
P.S., The large white wedding ring (pic below) turned-out to be junk. Most of the stones were also gone and the ring had been in the water for some time - explains why it took 3 scoops to recover.

[Mako77]

Nice work on the recovery!

[UnderMiner]

Very nice ring!

[CASPER-2]

[lookindown]

Returns are the favorite part of the hobby for me...I found a 6 gram 14k gold cross while looking for a womans ear ring in waist deep water...congrats on the return.

[1KBlueTuber]

Nice Recovery and Return! Maybe I'll see you next week at the Naples pier.

[PI PETE]

Nice work Brother!

[SWFLA]

Great recovery

[Terry Soloman]

Super recovery!

[DeepseekerADS]

Great story too! Something you'll never forget.

[RustyGold]

You did a wonderful thing to search for their ring right away. Awesome recovery!

[LawrencetheMDer]

Nice Recovery and Return! Maybe I'll see you next week at the Naples pier.

Hey, Thanks for the thought although you're a few 100 miles south, but if I wonder down there I'll drop ya a line.