Ring Found in Rose Hill Kansas by The Ring Finders of Kansas City - High Plains Prospectors

It was late on a frigid Wednesday night in January when I got a text from a young lady who was desperate for some help.  Our metal detecting shop is located in Olathe, KS.  About 3 hours from Rosehill, KS where she was located.  She had been out tending to her horses, tossing hay, and preparing them for the cold night ahead.  It was a muddy mess and she had been sloshing around in the muck completing her chores when, afterwards, she realized the ring that she had inherited from her dear grandmother was no longer on her finger.

Frantic, she called a friend who, she knew, had a metal detector.  They searched for hours and found nothing but mud-caked scrap metal in the horse corral.  There was no way for her to cordon the horses from the corral and she was worried that the ring was getting pushed deeper and deeper into the muddy mess. For several days she had been looking for the precious family heirloom.

The first text came in around 8pm saying,"Hello, I found your number on Ring Finders.  Would you come to Rose Hill, Kansas?  Lost my inherited ring Monday while moving hay.  I've been on my hands and knees in the mud and snow every nigh.  Thank you for your time."  This is like a beacon of light shining into the clouds for a metal detectorist.  I picked up the phone and called her.  

Rose Hill is quite a ways for me to travel and I wouldn't be able to get there any time soon.  And, when it comes to ring recovery, I have learned - Time is of the essence.  The longer a ring remains lost, the more places it can go.  Horses trampling around in the mud and going out to pasture can displace a ring so that i may never be found.  A few day had passed since she lost it and I knew somebody needed to get out there quickly. 

We do business all over the country.  My plan was to get into the shop the next day and search through our customers in the Wichita area and find someone who would be willing to help this lady find her lost ring.  No sooner did I sit down at my desk and the phone rang.  On the other end was a long time customer, Eric C. of Wichita, asking about a manufacturer's warranty on his Sampson Ball Handled Spade - a metal detecting specialty digging shovel.  He had been using it for a year and somehow broke it...no clue how as the things are nearly indestructible (more on this later).  I gave him the manufacturer's toll free number for him to call and started chatting - which happens in this business.  Then, it hit me. I realized, he was really close to Rose Hill, where the lady had lost her ring.  

I asked Eric if he ever did ring recovery and he responded that he did.  I passed along the lead to him and discussed the benefits of joining The Ring Finders Group.  Essentially it is a network of metal detecting enthusiasts around the world that lend their expertise to people that are in need of assistance finding lost items - mostly rings.  This group was put together by Chris Turner of Vancouver, BC, Canada 11 or so years ago and has grown across the globe since then.  

I had joined the group several years ago and let my membership lapse.  I had just joined the group again literally a day before the lady had called me!  What a lucky day for her.  

I sent a group text to Eric and the lady who lost her ring and connected the two.  Both were very grateful.  Ironically, Eric had plans to go out that direction to metal detect with his Minelab Equinox 600 metal detector the very next weekend and it was convenient for him to make it out to help her find her ring.  A few days had gone by and my phone dings.  It is a picture of a lady holding a ring and the message. "Thanks for finding someone for me."  I immediately called her. She was very grateful to have found a ring that was very sentimental to her. 

Shortly thereafter, I received a call from Eric.  He was very thankful as well.  There was a reward for finding the ring.  As a gentleman, he attempted to decline the $100 reward.  As a very thankful ring owner, she would not allow him to decline her offer.   

"I'm ready to buy that shovel," Eric said when I picked up the phone.  Although I had connected him to the manufacturer of the Sampson Ball Handled spade that had broken , WW Manufacturing,and they were going to replace it with a brand new one, Eric and I had discussed the Root Slayer Nomad metal detecting shovel when he had called a few days prior.  He did his research and decided to buy it and he now had some disposable funds to do it.

I thanked Eric for his continued business and we talked about hooking up sometime to go do some detecting in the Wichita area.  That is the wonderful thing about the hobby of metal detecting - it is full of good people.  People who are willing, frequently for little or no reward, to go out of their way to help others out.  They are an exemplary group of people and I am very happy to be a part of their family. 

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