The Ring Finders
Metal Detecting Service Inc.

Jenny contacted me a few days ago with tales of woe. Her precious gold, diamond and ruby ring had slipped of her finger whilst wading at a popular Perth lake, which is located in the low hills above Perth. Lake Leschenaultia is a man-made lake that was built some years ago for swimming and recreational activities.

To her credit, Jenny marked the location in the water with a steel picket that the local ranger had provided her. Before contacting me, Jenny had also hired an underwater metal detector but was unable to dig up the target in the metre deep water. Jenny had actually seen the ring slide off her finger into the clear water so was reasonably confident in retrieving the ring.

I know from experience that nothing is guaranteed when it comes to finding things with a metal detector (especially in the water) so I tempered my enthusiasm whilst reassuring her that the overall situation did look promising and the chances of a successful retrieval was high.

I grabbed my detectors and gear and headed up to the lake with my family in tow. Joel, my son, was keen to hit the water and have a swim in the warm water and 95F heat. To hunt a freshwater lake is such a luxury for me with no ocean waves and sea-dwelling creatures to worry about! The nearest crocodiles are 2000 miles away which was an added bonus.

I headed straight for the steel pole which marked the area where the ring was lost. The pole had to be removed otherwise it would blast my headphones with a big signal. Jenny and some of her friends had earlier told me that they got a great signal in that area but couldn’t dig up the target. I quickly scanned the area and was rewarded with the much dreaded Jack Daniels screw cap. This was the object that they had spent some time trying to dig up ! I scanned around the same spot but nothing else was heard….Hmmmmmm?

About a metre to one side was a weakish signal which didn’t sound too promising but there was nothing else signalling anywhere near the marked area. I had to investigate the weak signal which was clearly down deep in the coarse sand. If this was the ring then it had sunk down due to the earlier efforts trying to recover it. I really had to be careful not to let the object sink any deeper due to inaccurate digging as I have made this mistake before.

After a few efforts to dig deep into the sand, I had the target in my scoop somewhere. I let the sand melt away from the bottom of my steel scoop and there lay Jenny’s beautiful diamond and ruby ring set in 18K gold…..what a sight and what a relief.

Jenny is now heading back to Sydney with the ring on her finger. Thank you for contacting me and giving me a chance to hunt down your ring.

Tony.

Here is the video of the actual retrieval…..