Larry Griffith, Author at The Ring Finders

My wife Marilyn, received a call today from a woman speaking a different language.my wifethought the woman may have been speaking .German. My wife could understand that the call focused on a lost ring but the woman didn’t speak French or English. My wife suggested using Google translate with SMS  which seemed good. The woman’s husband lost his ring in a beach in Cannes, France . Once we started using the translator, things went smoothly. After we were through with a prior scheduled event, I loaded up and , except heavy traffic, everything went well. I had the husband put rocks on the wet sand for markers and he told me that he was waist deep when he lost the ring. Fortunately, his wife had a matching ring. So, I tested the VDI reading on her ring …Couldn’t have gone any better 3-5 minutes later I found a target and…BINGO. Although we didn’t speak the same language, his smile spoke volumes!

 

 

Last week I received an SMS regarding a lost ring in the Côte d’Azur area of southern France. How would I have known this would be my MOST complicated venture. I made arrangements to drive nearly 3 hrs each way to search for a not-so-valuable wedding band but it had sentimental value . Simple so far, right? When I go that far, I often take a 2nd detector just in case I have problems. When I finally reached the location, I had problems finding a parking spot but finally found one a few blocks away. However, after donning my wet suit, etc., I noticed that my main detector had a broken disk mount …ouch! Well, that leaves my secondary detector.  However, when removing my back up detector, I found the headphone bracket was broken…darned!  Not willing to quit, I took this detector with the intent to use only one earphones. When I entered the water, I heard strange noise and realized that I had not “sealed” the box properly and the detector was damaged beyond repair. I had to apologize and drive 3 hrs home. The client asked if I could return “tomorrow “…UGH (another 6 hrs round trip). I said OK and went home and mounted my large coil. I returned the next day and searched the specific area that the customer said the ring was POSITIVELY lost…NOTHING. Since I had driven so far, I decided to search other areas in the same beach.  There wasn’t much but I did find a questionable ring about 25+ft away. Oh well. I phoned the customer to say the search was unsuccessful. After returning home, my wife inspected the ring determined that “perhaps” this was the customer’s ring even though it was found quite a distance from the reported loss. My wife followed up with the customer via SMS and sent photos. The customer believed that the ring was his. We sent the ring from France to the customer in England last week and today the customer confirmed the ring was received AND was the one he lost. Apparently the ring has a long history and now has something more to add to it’s history.

Had a great time today as a member of TheRingfinders.com. I was asked to find a lost man’s ring in a small Creek in a remote area. After about an hour, with hopes dimming, I was finally able to return to an unsuspecting man in front of a great wife and friends. Of course, I couldn’t help a little pranking during the returned of this great ring purchased by his wife.

 

I responded yesterday to a call from Alice, an Italian girl who now lives in NW Spain who asked for help in finding her “special” ring that was lost in the Mediterranean. She said that she didn’t know who to call so used an AI app on her cellphone and the very first recommendation was Larry Griffith with
Theringfinders.com
Her “special” ring was a silver ring her fiancé gave her 5 years ago with a fake diamond. She said it held very special emotional significance. Although I couldn’t respond last night due to another engagement, I drove 3 hrs this morning and met Alice and her mother at the beach. When I arrived, she said she actually lost 3 rings but she was only concerned with her “special” one. Fortunately, both agree to a specific “loss” area that was not large. After about 30 minutes, I located the first ring. This helped to identify the loss location more precisely. Unfortunately, the ring was not the one that concerned her. A few minutes later I found the second one but again, it was not the important ring. After a few more minutes, the special ring was found!
When I gave Alice her “special “ ring
she cried for 5 minutes on her hands and knees on the wet sand. She repeatedly said it was absolutely “the best day of her life ever!” Wow, what a wonderful hobby this is!

I responded yesterday to a call from Alice, an Italian girl who now lives in NW Spain who asked for help in finding her “special” ring that was lost in the Mediterranean. She said that she didn’t know who to call so used an AI app on her cellphone and the very first recommendation was Larry Griffith with
Theringfinders.com
Her “special” ring was a silver ring her fiancé gave her 5 years ago with a fake diamond. She said it held very special emotional significance. Although I couldn’t respond last night due to another engagement, I drove 3 hrs this morning and met Alice and her mother at the beach. When I arrived, she said she actually lost 3 rings but she was only concerned with her “special” one. Fortunately, both agree to a specific “loss” area that was not large. After about 30 minutes, I located the first ring. This helped to identify the loss location more precisely. Unfortunately, the ring was not the one that concerned her. A few minutes later I found the second one but again, it was not the important ring. After a few more minutes, the special ring was found!
When I gave Alice her “special “ ring
she cried for 5 minutes on her hands and knees on the wet sand. She repeatedly said it was absolutely “the best day of her life ever!” Wow, what a wonderful hobby this is!

As the southern most representative ( Near Marseille,France) of TheRingfinders.com in  mainland Europe we receive calls from potential customers in Croatia, Rhoads, Spain, Italy, etc, . Although I like travel, many distant locations are not feasible for my  travel. We often assist potential  customers in referring them to closer services that available nearer to their locations of loss. We do this in an attempt to help people to find their lost items.

Recently we rejected a request at Nice beach as follows:

Hello, I lost a wedding ring about a week ago, I believe while playing in the waves along the rocky beach in Nice.  I’m afraid it’s a lost cause because the waves are pretty big, the rocks are numerous, and the beach is crowded so if the ring washes up someone will find it.  The hotel told us see they see people regularly searching the beach with metal detectors.  But I found you online and thought it was worth a shot—have you by chance had any luck with a situation like this?

(Rob)

Hello, I lost a wedding ring about a week ago, I believe while playing in the waves along the rocky beach in Nice.  I’m afraid it’s a lost cause because the waves are pretty big, the rocks are numerous, and the beach is crowded so if the ring washes up someone will find it.  The hotel told us see they see people regularly searching the beach with metal detectors.  But I found you online and thought it was worth a shot—have you by chance had any luck with a situation like this?

Response (actually by my wife)

Hello, 

Did you lose it on the Nice beach itself? The website explains that Nice beach is the only beach I won’t search.

 The rings descend very quickly in the rocks once you start moving them around. Also I don’t dive and the shoreline descends very rapidly, which prevents me from digging with my scoop.  

That place must be a diamond mine for all the people that lost their engagement rings that  I have had to turn down for several years.

I don’t charge for my time but do charge for my expenses and then (only if I find it for you , you can choose a reward that you want to give.

Otherwise, you are only obligated to pay my expenses (gas, toll booths and parking. It is a 5 hour round trip from where I live (1 hour north of marseille) 

I would really like to help , but don’t like to charge anyone for my expenses when I don’t believe I would be successful. 

If you are fortunate enough to find a scuba diver with a metal detector, but I don’t personally know of anyone.

I saw an underwater video of this area and the rocks turn to sand as the water deepens. 

I am hoping it can replaced without too much expense. 

Cordially,

Larry Griffith

(Rob)

 

 

My wife a I were deciding what to do yesterday when I got a call from someone with an area code in Italy. I immediately gave my phone to my wife inasmuch as she is much better with foreign language than I and I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids. The young lady said her husband had lost his ring on the beach yesterday while visiting Côte d’Azur, France and she asked if we were available and asked about our fees. Shortly thereafter, my wife and I were on our way to their location (2+ hrs away).  When we met the very nice young couple we were given the info that the husband had lost the ring the night before in dry sand near the water line. Although they both did an extensive search until 11 PM, the ring was not found. They were concerned that during their search, the ring may have sunk too deep to find it.  I noted the beach was very crowded with sunbathers but the sunbathers were very cooperative while I searched. After finding several junk targets and a euro coin, I received a target with the correct VDI number. I was able to dig the spot between two sunbathers and find the yellow gold ring…SUCCESS!  The sunbathers clapped and the young couple were happy as we shared hugs. Total time was about 20 minutes . Fortunately, this search turned out to be a “Textbook” search…straightforward and simple. Don’t we wish they could all be so easy?!

IIt was just after 2 pm when a British man, Olly, called stating he lost a small gold ring his grandmother had given him. The ring was very important to him although it did not have extreme monetary value. He said he was visiting Fréjus (France) and while walking on the local beach this morning, the ring slipped off his finger in shallow water. He asked if I could attempt to find it. Fortunately, he knew exactly where he had lost the ring. However, he could not meet me at the location because his return flight home was about 8 pm. It is ALWAYS preferable to have the owner present to precisely identify the location (see later). I quickly started the 1 hr 45 min drive while my wife got additional google maps and photos from Olly. When I arrived, I found that the beach was actually a combination of 4 mini-coves so I looked at the photos Olly had sent and the map. Based on my review I chose the most likely location and searched about 3 hrs without success. While returning home I called Olly to report. While discussing the location he believed I searched the wrong beach and asked if I could go back and search a different location. I agreed. I used the same info as before but applied it to the new location. After searching about 20 minutes, I received the sound we all like to hear with a low VDI reading. On the second scoop …success! I took a photo and sent it to Olly who was nearly ready to board the flight home. According to my wife, Olly was extremely pleased . The ring will be sent immediately to be reunited with Olly.

If you have lost any jewelry including rings or other items  made with metal, make sure that you call me to attempt to locate it.  I search beaches, water up to 4 1/2 ft deep and land (with permission).  Remember, the sooner you call, the more likely it is of finding the item. However,  even if some time has lapsed, it’s worth a call. theringfinders.com

If you have lost any jewelry including rings or other items  made with metal, make sure that you call me to attempt to locate it.  I search beaches, water up to 4 1/2 ft deep and land (with permission).  Remember, the sooner you call, the more likely it is of finding the item. However,  even if some time has lapsed, it’s worth a call.

 

Larry Griffith

04 86 37 77 17