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My Mother's Lost Ring

14 Aug 2017

I’m a new detectorist, I have had my E-TRAC for two weeks with exactly three hunts under my machine; on my third hunt I made the most amazing discovery…I found a class ring..a very special class ring. Before I get into my discovery I want to offer a little background.

I’ve been wanting a machine for years but the desire was always put to the side by everyday life responsibilities that happens to us all. Around three months ago, I was watching a program on the television showing two gentlemen hunting for lost relics with metal detectors and my thoughts of owning a machine turned to hard research. I was determined this time; I spent hours reading forums and watching online videos to help me make the most informed buying decision possible. My wife was 100% supportive and trusted me that I would use our money wisely; she would ask me how my research was going and would listen as I explained the pros and cons of each machine I researched. I had finally made my decision on my machine, it was exactly what I wanted in my price range and I was close to pulling out my wallet to make my purchase when I saw a friend of mine on a popular social network, he posted a picture of he and his son hunting the beaches of Florida. I reached out to my friend Chris and all the research I had done was tossed in the trash! Chris’s first question to me was if I had looked into Minelab, he followed with ‘they are the best machines available anywhere’ and promised me ‘it would out detect everything’. He then went on to tell me once I find my first silver coin or gold ring I’d be addicted…he was right! It turns out my friend Chris has been detecting for 30 plus years and has owned over a dozen machines in his time from all the big time players in the industry. He then went on to tell me that if I am serious about this hobby I’ll save a lot of time, frustration and money by buying the machine I’ll want in the future now and not start off with a basic machine that I would quickly outgrow and replace as I became experienced. He recommended the Safari or the E-TRAC as his first and second choice; he said like chess they are easy to learn the basics but it’ll take time to master and being the good friend he knows that I fully would embrace the learning curve. I decided on the E-TRAC…it was out of my price range but bought it anyway with the support of my wife and couldn't be happier with my decision. On my first hunt I was digging everything that made a noise! I wasn’t paying attention to what my display was telling me, I was just happy to be treasure hunting and excited to dig! I had a pocket full of pop tabs, beer bottle caps, several pennies and a beer can that was eight inches deep. I worked hard for that beer can! I was so excited to show my wife all my treasures, I didn’t care it was all trash. She was equally excited for me and encouraged me to keep hunting. My second hunt was at Atwood Lake in Dellroy Ohio; I woke up early Saturday morning took the pontoon boat and my machine and set off for boaters beach to hunt. Boaters beach is a shallow area towards the middle of the lake, people pull up their boats, swim and enjoy the area with sometimes hundreds of other people. I hunted the shallows for a couple of hours and once again wasn’t paying attention to my display and again digging everything that made noise. I was learning my machine and how to properly use a beach scoop. After a few hours I found some modern clad, plenty of pop tabs and even a smokers lost E-Cigarette, again I was just happy to be hunting on the lake. My wife was again excited for me and encourage me that I would find silver, just keep hunting. My third hunt…the most amazing discovery was again at Atwood lake but this time in a small private swim area shared by about 30 homes in the Arrowhead Cottage Community. While my kids were swimming I was exploring the shallows of the beach and found a target! It was about three feet from the shoreline and knee deep in water. After 20 or so attempts to bring my target to the surface with my small beach scoop, I finally saw it, the sparkle of gold! I had found a gold ring amongst the small stones in my scoop! I yelled to my wife and went over to her to show her my discovery; my wife was as excited as I was, I had made my first real discovery! She knew that one of my goals when I bought my detector was to find a lost piece of jewelry and reunite it with the owner. We quickly started examining the ring, we are able to see that it is a class ring from St Mary's Class of 1970. After a little more rinsing and polishing, she can see an inscription on the inside that says Taffy in cursive with the initials K.S. I looked at my wife in utter shock, I had just found my own mothers class ring! I had no idea she had lost it! To give you some further back story my family has had ties to Atwood lake since 1965 on both my mothers and fathers side of the family. My parents actually met at the lake and spent their teen and early adult years swimming at this very same beach. I myself, my siblings all my aunts and uncles have spent years at Atwood and countless hours on swimming in the lake. My father’s family have long since moved on from Atwood but my mothers family has not. My aunt currently owns the house my mothers family built in 1967 after buying it back into the family 15 years ago; I just recently returned to Atwood two years ago after avoiding going back for personal reasons. I rekindled my lost connection to the lake and my wife and I were married at the yacht club. It’s our goal to buy own retirement home at Atwood someday, sooner then later if I discover lost pirate gold with my E-TRAC! So you see this discovery I found yesterday is just shocking, now back to the story of the missing ring. I called my mother and asked her if she had lost a ring at the lake; she was confused by my question but quickly answered yes. She wanted to know how we knew she lost her ring, she told us that she had lost her ring many years ago, but was afraid to tell anyone. In the summer of 1970 shortly after she graduated from high school, she along her cousin had decided to pawn their class rings for much needed cash as they were embarking out on their own as new adults. Before my mother could sell the ring, she lost it swimming in the lake! She was horrified and heartbroken, she had only had the ring a few months. She accepted the loss, she moved on and forgot about the ring like people often do with time. I never once dreamed that fulfilling my goal of reuniting a ring to it’s rightful owner, would be my mother! Atwood Lake, the lake that brought my parents together, provided me with wonderful childhood memories, hosted countless ‘weekends at the lake’, married my wife and I; it held that ring for 47 years! Just feet from the shore that I enjoyed as a child, the same shore that my children play on, held that ring tightly. Its truly amazing! I am so happy to return the ring to my mother, but part of me hopes she allows me to keep it as a good luck charm. I mean, she was going to pawn it anyway. P.S. The news of my discovery quickly made family news, as I was driving home today I got a call from another aunt who went on to tell me her husband lost his wedding ring on the night of their wedding in 1972, they went skinny dipping to celebrate! It looks like I have another family ring to find…challenge accepted!!!

Kevin - OH, USA

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