My Precious! O my Precious!
October 11, 2020 8:08 PM Subscribe
Have you ever lost a ring somewhere--just had it slip off your finger and...disappear? The Ring Finders is a network of metal detecting enthusiasts who help folks find lost rings, sometimes even underwater, usually for free or on a "reward basis," just because it makes them happy.
And boy, does it make people happy.
Funny to see this on the front page of Metafilter when I just finished reading this CBC story about how Chris Turner of Ring Finders just found Jon Cryer’s lost wedding ring in some grass in Vancouver!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:08 AM on October 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:08 AM on October 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
Forget the electromagnetic aids, you just need a trained carrot in Canada or Sweden.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:12 AM on October 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:12 AM on October 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
I lost what was probably the most precisous item I owned, or ever would own, a gorgeous ring that my mother had given my father as a wedding present. It is beautiful, it is absolutely unique, it's the most beautiful thing I have ever owned.
I lost it when swimming in the Comel river in New Braunfels Texas. No idea how it came off, it was a perfect fit, never felt the least bit loose, I did chase a turtle some while using mask and snorkel, not sure if it came off then or not, all I know is that before getting out of that river that day the ring was gone.
Through The Ring Finders site I have found a man in New Braunfels who I emailed to set this in motion. It is unlikely to be found, it's been lost to me over 20 years. But I do love Chance, and I'm going to see if this guy can help.
Wish me luck, if you will.
posted by dancestoblue at 3:00 AM on October 12, 2020 [42 favorites]
I lost it when swimming in the Comel river in New Braunfels Texas. No idea how it came off, it was a perfect fit, never felt the least bit loose, I did chase a turtle some while using mask and snorkel, not sure if it came off then or not, all I know is that before getting out of that river that day the ring was gone.
Through The Ring Finders site I have found a man in New Braunfels who I emailed to set this in motion. It is unlikely to be found, it's been lost to me over 20 years. But I do love Chance, and I'm going to see if this guy can help.
Wish me luck, if you will.
posted by dancestoblue at 3:00 AM on October 12, 2020 [42 favorites]
I saw Jon Cryer's Twitter thread about that group yesterday, and it made me smile.
I volunteer at a local community farm. A couple of summers ago I was standing in the driveway outside the tractor barn, talking to Rob-- who suddenly went silent, grabbed my arm, and hissed "What's that" like he'd seen a snake on my boot.
I looked down and saw a gleam, and he asked me to pick it up. I realized it was a ring, and I wiped it off, and laughed when I saw his face light up. He had dropped it...the previous year? The year before? And though his ever-patient wife understood it was an accident, he'd bought a new ring and everything. Still, to find the original made his damnday MONTH.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:11 AM on October 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
I volunteer at a local community farm. A couple of summers ago I was standing in the driveway outside the tractor barn, talking to Rob-- who suddenly went silent, grabbed my arm, and hissed "What's that" like he'd seen a snake on my boot.
I looked down and saw a gleam, and he asked me to pick it up. I realized it was a ring, and I wiped it off, and laughed when I saw his face light up. He had dropped it...the previous year? The year before? And though his ever-patient wife understood it was an accident, he'd bought a new ring and everything. Still, to find the original made his damn
posted by wenestvedt at 7:11 AM on October 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
Time for a season 4 of the Detectorists!
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:23 AM on October 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:23 AM on October 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
I wish I knew about this earlier. Spouse lost their ring in a kids playground. We looked around but the mulch and leaves ensured that was fruitless. It wasn't flashy or fancy. Just a plain ring. The thickness of it was proportional to its width, it had rounded edges. I know these characteristics, because I literally made the ring myself. In the kitchen of our college apartment.
posted by zenon at 7:41 AM on October 12, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by zenon at 7:41 AM on October 12, 2020 [6 favorites]
Last week a rare thing happened in Minneapolis: the Army Corps of Engineers lowered the level of the Mississippi under the Lock & Dam for inspections, exposing riverbottoms that haven't been seen since the last drawdown in 2008. (And in 2008 it was done in January, it was about -30f so nobody went to enjoy it). Anyway, we went to check it out on Wednesday and saw some folks with metal detectors among the crowds of bored Minnesotans looking for something interesting to do. I imagine that the Ring Finder types were salivating as the river level began to fall, and they were all out there on the very first day. I wonder what sort of stuff they found? Other than electric scooters and old bottles, which was all that I found.
posted by Gray Duck at 8:02 AM on October 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Gray Duck at 8:02 AM on October 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
The responses to Jon Cryer's Twitter post about his lost ring included many heartwarming stories about improbable recoveries of precious and/or sentimental jewelry. They gave me hope, so maybe I'll rent a metal detector to look for Mr. Carmicha's wedding ring, which he lost a few years ago moving and stacking firewood in our yard.
posted by carmicha at 9:04 AM on October 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 9:04 AM on October 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
dancestoblue, my husband nearly lost his wedding ring in the deep end of Barton Springs. The chilly water caused his fingers to shrink enough that it just slipped right off without him noticing. Luckily--improbably--I saw it falling and grabbed it before it sank to the bottom. Good luck; I hope you find yours!
posted by Tuba Toothpaste at 10:30 AM on October 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Tuba Toothpaste at 10:30 AM on October 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
Years ago I briefly lost my wedding ring while doing laundry in a laundromat in a tiny town in California where my mother lived at the time. I didn't notice immediately and when I went back could not find it. I called someone at the office for the place and left my phone number and address. Several weeks later someone found my ring in her laundry and turned it in so I got it back. The sad thing is that I was unable to contact the person who returned it to me, because I would so love to say thank you and send her flowers or some such. Great post!
posted by Bella Donna at 11:19 AM on October 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 11:19 AM on October 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I lost my wedding ring and . . . had a duplicate made, complete with the engraving inside. As far as I'm concerned it's the same darn ring.
posted by Peach at 12:06 PM on October 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Peach at 12:06 PM on October 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
I lost my wedding ring on our honeymoon in Yosemite NP. When I realized it had fallen off, we started retracing our steps. We had hiked up Half Dome, and then went to a meadow area where we took some arty photos near a downed tree. Luckily, there it was near the downed tree...
posted by Windopaene at 10:57 PM on October 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 10:57 PM on October 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
An Italian pal of mine was on holiday in Greece as a teenager with his parents. He kicked a stone [because teenager] on the dusty path between the coach-park & the temple and turned up a Tetradrachm that had been waiting there for him for 2000 years. He gave a hat-tip to the preceding party of Japanese tourists who had done the final bit of ground-work.
posted by BobTheScientist at 5:36 AM on October 13, 2020
posted by BobTheScientist at 5:36 AM on October 13, 2020
OT story, but connected by rings and title: I've been reading The Hobbit to my 7 1/2 year old, and we got to the point where Bilbo jumps past Gollum and makes his escape into the goblin passages, and my child says, "Wait, but did Gollum get his ring back?"
And it suddenly occurs to me that this sweet child of mine doesn't see a heroic escape from a murderous monster and a chance finding of an artifact of global importance. He sees that someone has lost a thing, and someone else has picked that thing up, and, well, finders keepers really isn't a fair way to handle property rights.
"I think Bilbo should stop in the well-lit passage, take off the ring, and toss it back to Gollum," he says.
And I certainly can't argue with him, in context, and I tell him there's more to the story.
posted by erikred at 12:59 PM on October 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
And it suddenly occurs to me that this sweet child of mine doesn't see a heroic escape from a murderous monster and a chance finding of an artifact of global importance. He sees that someone has lost a thing, and someone else has picked that thing up, and, well, finders keepers really isn't a fair way to handle property rights.
"I think Bilbo should stop in the well-lit passage, take off the ring, and toss it back to Gollum," he says.
And I certainly can't argue with him, in context, and I tell him there's more to the story.
posted by erikred at 12:59 PM on October 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
Update on the comment I made above, losing a ring with huge sentimental value to me.
I sent the locator an email before even making that comment, but I've not heard back, October 12th and now it's October 29th. So I reached out to him on his cell phone just now, we spoke perhaps 20 minutes; he's a nice guy, interesting background, and interested in my story also.
Now it's to me to speak to my girlfriend from those long years gone by; that won't be difficult, she's a painter with a good-sized online presence. I need to find out from her exactly where on the river we were (it was in a park in a quasi-retirement community her parents lived in -- think manicured golf course, many (most?) people had, along with comfortable automobiles, many people also had golf carts they went whizzing about on, golf hats, maybe a scotch in their hand; not vast wealth but comfort. So I need to find from my ex-sweetie where we were on the river, and is it a city park or owned by the community -- I'd say that's a 50-50 coin toss, it was a park with picnic tables etc, could go either way. If it's a city park probably we're in; if it's not a city park, no telling.
It's been 25 years, there's been many rains, some of them of course large. Larry told me that's all to the good, as small rocks (and rings etc) tend to get washed in to the shallows on the edge of the river.
He didn't want to get me jumping up and down, I know that probably that ring is gone. Even if it got washed to the side, maybe someone picked it up, might be in a jewelry box, no telling.
We're not going to try until April; I'm fine with cold water but he isn't. But that will give me time to do my homework -- where were we, is it a public park. I've already found her contact info online, we left it as friends so I expect she'll help if she can.
Luck. Chance, Capital C. Maybe grace? Probably I'll need all of that and more.
posted by dancestoblue at 1:46 PM on October 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
I sent the locator an email before even making that comment, but I've not heard back, October 12th and now it's October 29th. So I reached out to him on his cell phone just now, we spoke perhaps 20 minutes; he's a nice guy, interesting background, and interested in my story also.
Now it's to me to speak to my girlfriend from those long years gone by; that won't be difficult, she's a painter with a good-sized online presence. I need to find out from her exactly where on the river we were (it was in a park in a quasi-retirement community her parents lived in -- think manicured golf course, many (most?) people had, along with comfortable automobiles, many people also had golf carts they went whizzing about on, golf hats, maybe a scotch in their hand; not vast wealth but comfort. So I need to find from my ex-sweetie where we were on the river, and is it a city park or owned by the community -- I'd say that's a 50-50 coin toss, it was a park with picnic tables etc, could go either way. If it's a city park probably we're in; if it's not a city park, no telling.
It's been 25 years, there's been many rains, some of them of course large. Larry told me that's all to the good, as small rocks (and rings etc) tend to get washed in to the shallows on the edge of the river.
He didn't want to get me jumping up and down, I know that probably that ring is gone. Even if it got washed to the side, maybe someone picked it up, might be in a jewelry box, no telling.
We're not going to try until April; I'm fine with cold water but he isn't. But that will give me time to do my homework -- where were we, is it a public park. I've already found her contact info online, we left it as friends so I expect she'll help if she can.
Luck. Chance, Capital C. Maybe grace? Probably I'll need all of that and more.
posted by dancestoblue at 1:46 PM on October 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
« Older "He gazed at the sky. Hannah went back to thinning... | I’m obviously not. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:38 PM on October 11, 2020 [4 favorites]