I was contacted by an individual who asked if I could search for a diamond ring, valued at $10,000, lost 5 years ago. He assured me it was on his property. Initially after the loss, he had rented a detector but recovery was unsuccessful. The first day I spent 7.5 hours on the large property, spending time in what was considered the most probable area. It was not found. I spent many days, usually in 3 to 4 hour segments, sometimes 4 days per week, dependent on the weather, in other highly probable areas. One of those was a 45 degree bank, covered with 5 years of branches, leaves and composted yard waste. While detecting this area, there was very little soil; more twigs and compost, some rocks than actual soil. To compound the search, apparently years ago, hunting or target shooting was conducted in this area and the bank contained brass from shotgun shells and shot. Another problem consisted of two large diameter trees that had fallen prior to the loss. These had to be removed and I did so, using a chain saw, and moving sections of the trees farther down the bank in case the ring had travelled under either of those trees. Later I found it had indeed. I created a search mode especially for the CTX3030 as the diamond was set in platinum. On the final search day, I decided to detect in the rain as the weather outlook was bad and winter was approaching fast. Thankfully, the rain was not an issue with this detector. In late morning, with a signal of 12-04, I moved the debris and saw the glint of what I thought was the edge of a silver coin. However, as I looked closer I noted the edge was smooth. Removing more debris, there was the long lost ring; recovered after 2 1/2 months of rather tedious but diligent searching. The owner was, of course, extremely happy and amazed that it was finally found.
Robert - Pennsylvania, USA
