Thanks Minelab for another great find and another happy person!
After returning the silver and platinum class ring that had been missing for 31 years back in November, I was contacted by a woman who wanted to know if I would be willing to try and locate her son's missing class ring, which had been lost approximately 6 years or so. Naturally I was happy to try and find it. On Sunday 6/17/13 (Fathers day) we were finally able to arrange schedules for a meeting and recovery attempt.
My wife and I met her at the property that the ring had been lost at and were told that around 6yrs or so ago her son had been doing some work and had laid his gold class ring on his car. When he went to leave he had realized that he had left his ring laying on his car but it was too late. The ring was gone. They made numerous attempts to find the ring that was somewhere in the gravel drive, but were unable to locate it. His mother pointed out the area they thought that it had been lost and as best as she could remember and I started hunting for the ring.
Things were starting to look not so good for me when after hunting for awhile it was obvious that the area she pointed out to me was littered with .22 shell casings, small bits of pop cans, and a few pull tabs. I decided to work my way along that edge of the drive since they thought it had been lost on that side of the drive and worked my way out to the road with no luck of finding the lost ring. I then returned to the main area that it was thought to be lost in and swapped to my 11"coil to cover ground faster this was a large drive and I was determined to find the ring if it was still there.
I expanded my search to the other side of the drive thinking that maybe it bounced when it fell of the car and wound up in a spot that they hadn't thought of. About 30 minutes later I hit a nice 12-24/14-32 signal about 3"deep. I cut a small plug and in the bottom of the hole and I could see what appeared to be a thick band. When I picked it up you could see the green stone of a class ring. After some quick in field cleaning and photos, I headed home to clean it properly and have some better pictures taken of the ring as well as a picture of the ring on the scale before heading over to return it.
When we showed up to return the ring we called the woman and asked her if she could come outside. She and her daughter both came outside. I asked her again how it was lost and she told the story of how it was lost and that her son had been devastated when he lost it because she really had to scrape to get the ring for him since she was a single mother of two and it had been an expensive item. She was hoping I might be able to find it and she planned on surprising him with it soon if it was found. I asked her if she thought she could keep it quiet from him to surprise him with it, if I was able to find the ring and she had said that she hoped she could. That's when I pulled the 12G 10K yellow gold class ring out of my pocket and presented her with the find that she had hoped for.
They were not sure if they could keep the secret and I'm not sure if they can either. The only thing I am sure of is that this is the second returned class ring in less than a year and once again it is a great thing to be able to use this hobby to return a treasured item like that ring. You are giving them back a special part of their life and I for one, am very glad to have had the chance to be there and be part of this great experience.
Good deeds and good people are still out there doing the right thing. It's another good return with another happy ending!
Good karma!
Josh - OH, USA
