The good deed that failed

[tnt-hunter]

As I was leaving my hunt on Sunday I got a call from a guy I know. His wife had lost her diamond engagement ring in a local park by the pavilion. They had posted on Facebook looking for someone with a metal detector. A good friend of mine who works with him saw it (I?m not on Facebook) and told him to call me, that I am good with a metal detector. He called and I told him I could meet him on Monday morning.

I know this man because he and his wife have worked with a local organization that provides Christmas toys for underprivileged children. They serve over 2000 children each year and he has been with the organization for over 30 years. During most of that time my Boy Scout troop has helped out at the gift wrap that helps raise money for the toys. My wife and I alway donate and for the past several years my wife has made knitted hats to give to the kids. (They always give a warm hat and gloves to each child who gets toys). I coordinate the scouts participation with this guy so we talk several times a year. I really wanted to find the ring for him.

We met and he showed me the rather small area he thought she lost the ring in. I slowly gridded the area and got down and pinpointed all the likely targets hoping to see the gold shining back at me in the thick grass. No luck. He and his wife had gone through the trash so I detected that area they had used in case it had fallen into the grass. Again no luck. We emptied out the trash (the bags were in a fenced enclosure and his bags were different from the rest so we knew we had the right bags). I removed the cans from the trash and scanned everything else. No ring. He said he would have to go home and search trough her car in case it fell off there. I stayed and reworked the area at a 90 degree angle to the first time, this time digging all the mid and high tones in case a stronger signal masked the thinner gold ring. With the first look and the redetecting of the area I worked for 5 hours and could not find the ring. It might have gone home with one of the kiddies because she did use her ring hand to break the pi?ata at the party when it failed to break. Her ring may have been bagged up with the candy the kiddies scrambled to get. One thing I know for sure it is not where they thought it was lost.

I am really disappointed. These folks are great people and they deserve to get their ring back. I have returned 19 class rings and other numerous pieces of lost jewelry in my 19 years of detecting. Why couldn?t I find this one?

I didn?t come away empty handed. I did dig 58 pop tabs, 76 coins with a face value of $4.25, 3 game piece beaver tail tabs, a kiddie ring, a cheapie pendant, a live pistol round, an allen wrench screw driver combo, bottle caps, foil and a little can slaw.

​

It was a frustrating day. 90 and sunny, dripping in sweat, constantly digging what I thought might be the ring only to get more junk. I will go back and see if I can figure out where the ring might have flown off her finger. I did do part of the adjacent tot lot with that in mind. Thanks for looking, stay safe, may your coil lead you to good things and may your luck be better than mine was on this day.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[erfranks]

You will get it, thanks for trying to help them.

 

[Phil]

She may have lost it while doing dishes or washing her hands. Tell the husband to check the P-Traps in all of the sinks in the house.

 

[releventchair]

Your efforts matter.

I came away unsuccessful on a recovery too.
A thin gold chain a detector didn't find prior either.
It's possible whereabouts covering a large area....
But sometimes one must try . For the person who had the losses sake.

 

[TommyB]

In the time she lost it and when you came to find it, some passerby may have picked it up.

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

no failing in that story, you did all the right stuff with your time and energy on behalf of someone else. a win in my book. The ring would be a bonus but it just wasn't there..........

 

[angelito1]

Still , the goodly deed was done by you

 

[CAgem]

At least you got some good Karma by trying.

 

[Lenrac2]

I hope you find it but it sounds like you gave it your best! Good luck!

 

[crashbandicoot]

Nobody could have done more,you didn,t fail,you can,t find it if it,s not there.Kudos and blessings for you.

 

[tnt-hunter]

She may have lost it while doing dishes or washing her hands. Tell the husband to check the P-Traps in all of the sinks in the house.

We thought of that, but there are pictures from the party that show the ring on her finger so they figured where she went between the time the picture was taken and her discovery of the ring missing. That’s how they determined where I needed to hunt.

In the time she lost it and when you came to find it, some passerby may have picked it up.

I am afraid you are probably right. She lost it late Friday and they searched in the dark with lights from their phones. I didn’t get the call until late Sunday afternoon and didn’t search until Monday morning. It may still be some where they didn’t think to have me look, but it probably went home with someone who spotted it Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks to all for the encouragement and nice posts. Good luck, stay safe and keep swingin.

 

[oldmxrat]

Seems like a no brainer that the nice people deserve to have their ring back, but we just don't know the beginning to the end like the One in charge. Maybe there's a better purpose that we just can't see. Good for you for the effort!

 

[SD51]

Unless she actually saw the ring fall off, there's no telling where she lost it. When this has happened to me, I ask them to show me where they parked the car and the path or route they took from the car to the area where they thought they lost it. I think it's still there...

 

[smallfoot]

Helping a friend is never a failure...

 

[Trezurehunter]

A lot of times, the ring is not lost in the area that the owner thought it was. They usually look down at their finger, and since the ring is missing, they assume it was lost right then and there, when in fact they may have lost it at the grocery store 3 hours earlier. Always a tough situation, but you gave it a good try.

 

[JeffInMass]

Your efforts were exemplary, and I commend you for that. You can't find what isn't there- it's sometimes very difficult to find lost jewelry as people often cannot be 100% certain where they lost it, usually they think they lost it where they first noticed it missing. Good luck- I seriously hope it turns up.