I just had to say thanks Minelab for another great season of hunts and finds with the Minelab E-TRAC. I sit here today reflecting back on the 2012 season and some of the great finds that I had made and realized that I had a story that I had a great heart-warming story that I just had to share with you. Towards the end of the 2012 season I had gotten permission to hunt a private yard in a local town and had no idea that it was to be the day that the E-TRAC would find one of my wish list finds and give me an absolutely priceless experience that I would not trade for anything and will always remember.
The day was Nov. 11th 2012... I had planned to get out and do some hunting in a private yard of a nearby town. I got an early start and had planned on trying to methodically hunt the yard in sections to find all that I could as I had no plans of returning for another hunt. I started in the front yard and the finds were consistent with a yard hunt of this type with coins being found here and there. I had started at the street working my way up to the house and after hunting for awhile I had finally made it to about the middle of the front yard when I get a nice smooth signal on the E-TRAC that kept giving numbers right around the 12-37/40's range about 6"as I recall. Imagine my surprise when I cut my plug and saw a very nice looking ring in the hole.
The ring was a silver and platinum woman's class ring from a local high school class of 1983. As soon as I had realized what it was I knew what had to be done... I had to find the owner! I hunted for a little longer and after recovering a silver and black onyx ring I headed home to clean my finds and begin the search for the owner of the class ring.
Well long story short... my wife, step daughter, and myself teamed up to do a little research to try and find the owner. The next morning my step daughter found part of a yearbook online with a name from that class whose initials matched the ring. With it being a smaller class of students we were fairly certain this was the person I was looking for. A quick Facebook search showed that the owner still lived in the area and that there was a mutual friend. The mutual friend was contacted and plans were made to try and get the owner of the class ring to stop by the mutual friend's house... without the owner of the class ring knowing why of course.
Within the next 2 weeks we were able to find out that the ring had been missing for 31 years and the owner had long ago given up hope of ever seeing it again. Remember... at this point the class ring owner still doesn't know that the ring has been found. I cleaned the ring and put it in a nice little ring box and anxiously waited for the chance to return it to the owner. Two weeks to the day after finding the ring it was time to return it. We got the call that the class ring owner was on her way to the mutual friends house. Little did she know that she was coming by so that we could meet her and return a very special item to her.
I was able to return the silver and platinum class ring with a ruby birthstone to a very grateful person who after 31 years had all but given up hope of ever seeing her ring again. Introductions were made, the ring was returned, pictures were taken, and the local paper even did a small article about the ring being returned.
I framed the newspaper article along with the pictures that were taken that day and it sits at my desk where I can see it and as I look up at it while writing this story I get that heart-warming feeling all over again knowing that not only did Minelab give me a fantastic season of finds Minelab also made a great impact on á person that had all but given up hope of ever seeing her class ring again. Her emotion shows that the ring was very important to her and was all the reward I needed. I encourage anyone who gets the chance to return a lost ring to do so. The experience is more than worth it.
After 31 years... Minelab we both thank you!
If interested the full 11 minute video of the ring return and story of how it was lost and found again can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfizcefXMZ8
Josh - OH, USA
