Recovered & Returned

Taranaki Black Sand Beach · 30/12/22

Briar and her partner were enjoying a lovely Boxing Day at Tapuae Beach (Taranaki, NZ) when a wave suddenly washed up and over where they were sitting. They quickly grabbed their things and moved further up the beach, and it was then that Briar realized that her gold necklace with 3 gold rings on it were now missing. She had earlier taken her necklace and rings off and carefully placed them in a sock for safe keeping - but the sock was now empty! After being contacted to help find a lost gold chain with 3 gold rings on it, Peter, my husband and I met up with Briar and her partner at the Tupuae Beach carpark. We then walked approximately a km along a track towards the beach when Briar suddenly let out a yell of pain. It just wasn't her day! She had just got her first ever bee sting. I scrapped the sting off the sole of her foot and we carried on to the beach. Peter and I started gridding the beach and it wasn't long before I heard the one and only target on the beach. I was pretty confident that it was the lost gold jewellery and with one scoop of sand carefully removed - it was all revealed.

Recovered by Sue Billing - Retrieve Metal Detecting

😉 wouldn’t you like to know. · 2025

In an area I’ve been to hundreds of times. And at least 15 other detectorists have also been to. And literally walked over many times. Myself included, this spot about 3m x 3m produced a lot of old silver coins over the years, at depths you wouldn’t believe, each target took over 10mins to dig out they were that deep. My 15inch coil has a huge advantage on depth. Deeper than any other metal detector it seems for everyone else to miss. I changed one setting on my metal detector. And it lit up all these new targets after I had thought the spot was cleaned out . Over a couple weeks I dug up 13 Gold rings. Worth $10k all 18ct. Plus 30 silver coins. All dated late 1800s to early 1900s this was a great honey hole. This sapphire ring was my favourite from the 13, that I found in this honey hole.

Recovered by Wellington Metal Detective

2022

Possibly the best find I’ve ever found. 9ct Gold, engraved on the back it says. To Bella one of three waitresses who waited on 630 people in 5.5 hours on Sunday 20th April 1913 I was in a park. Nothing really much exciting was found, lots of bottle caps and ring pulls, the occasional silver coin. This rung up like a bottle cap. Also I don’t know why I dug it up, and was surprised when I did. I intially didn’t think it was gold as I’ve never seen one before. I’ve seen similar in silver but not gold. It wasn’t until I got home and cleaned it that I realised it was solid gold. I did a lot of research trying to find who Bella was. What the event was with not much luck, I did find out the jeweller who made this was called Frank Grady, he also made the gold key to Wellington city,

Recovered by Wellington Metal Detective

In park in Wellington · 2022

I found a area no one else had discovered, loaded with silver coins but very trashy, I got a ring pull signal and almost didn’t dig it , I don’t know why I did dig it but was pleasantly surprised to see this pop out of the hole

Recovered by Wellington Metal Detective

Remuera, Auckland · 21 January 2021

I was contacted by an agency working on behalf of a well-known insurance firm to see if I could locate an earring lost somewhere in a kitchen. The earrings were a birthday gift from the clients husband, I decided to take on the challenge even though it was likely to be a difficult search. When I arrived at her house Barbara showed me the bench where she had been cleaning her jewellery and next to it was a waste disposal unit. I hoped it hadn't gone down there as it likely would be long gone. She said she had been cleaning the earring before she dropped it. I started by using a very bright torch to check under the fridge and in the cupboards. It soon became apparent that the earring wasn't where she had thought it had landed. I had also come prepared with an endoscopic inspection camera. After looking more closely around the cupboards Barbara suggested the gap under the dishwasher behind the cabinetry. After 5 minutes of dragging the camera tubing back and forth I came across a very reflective object. The picture was not great but I was pretty confident it was the earring. We both decided a tradesman would need to safely remove it and 3 weeks later they did!!

Recovered by Ian Scott

Bombay, Auckland · 9 March 2021

I was asked by an accident investigator to search for a tractor drive shaft that broke and caused the tractor to get written off and the driver to get injured, all that happened 2 months ago. Search efforts were held up by lockdown. Yesterday I visited the two search areas. I had been told it was knee high grass by the road side and that the driver had seen it fly off to the left before the tractor lost control, but it was a steep bank covered in weed, blackberry and every other noxious weed known to man. To make matters more difficult cars were shooting passed well over the speed limit even with our cones and warning lights on. Below the bank was a chicken farm, the hens were nesting on the bank and were not happy about me flattening their nesting areas and then there were the bush rats. So basically I didn't find it, because it was a needle in a haystack and they really didn't know where it had gone. This happens all too often. I imagine it was lodged up in a tree somewhere. Some guy stopped to ask if we were fixing the road..Some people eh? Anyway I hope you enjoyed the story.

Recovered by Ian Scott

Remuera, Auckland · 13 April 2019

Wednesday afternoon I was contacted by a lady who had been pruning the hedge when she felt her ring slip off her finger. She spent time shaking the bushes and feeling around the roots, after realizing she needed something else like a metal detector, she decided to call me. This morning I went to a suburb in Auckland to a residential address and met the lady who showed me the area in the garden she had been working. I started using my metal detector from the footpath as the garden was directly below it and then I used the pinpointer to get into the crevices. I could hear the pinpointer buzzing before I saw the rows of diamonds. She was relieved to get her $250,000 platinum ring back on her finger. I was even more relieved to find it after she told me how much it was worth!

Recovered by Ian Scott

Little River · March 2026

Contacted via Facebook, made contact, got address and met the guy there who was on his stag doo. Found within 5 minutes. One very happy groom 😀

Recovered by Happy to help

New Brighton · February 2026

I was contacted on Facebook and got rough location. Went on my way and found it on my 1st walk down the beach. Myself and the lady were very very pleased

Recovered by Happy to help

Muriwai beach · 2020

I was contacted by Jackson whose fiancé Joleigh lost her engagement ring while swimming in the shallows at Muriwai beach, West Auckland. The ring is an 18crt white gold diamond ring with greenstone. It is a special ring as it was crafted especially for her. Muriwai beach is an iron sand beach that make most metal detectors almost useless, but after advice from another member of our group I was able to get past some of the problems and start a search in the shallows by the rocks. After 10 minutes and only a bottle cap, Jackson and Joleigh arrived and redirected me to a spot further up the beach. I marked out the area to search and as I walked I heard almost nothing. Then I heard a familiar sound so I beckoned them to come over and take look. I dumped a scoop of sand out I bent down and worked my pinpointer through the sand hearing it beep, Jackson pointed and said I think I see it. It was so good to see it for the first time, finding a ring like this on an iron sand beach is quite an accomplishment. They were really happy to get it back.

Recovered by Ian Scott

Maraetai Beach · 6 February 2024

I was walking along the beach scanning the sand just out for a hunt. A man called Riaan came up to me and said you are just what I am looking for, I lost my wedding ring in the water. It is gold and palladium which he said wasn’t worth that much, but I have heard that before. It is actually worth a lot and has a lot of sentimental value. He pointed out the area, but the tide was in so we would have to wait till the tide was out far enough (2 hours later). I started the search 1 hour from low tide, but as the sun went down and I went deeper in the water the sea lice started biting. I went back to the car and put on my waders, with in 10 minutes in the water and 3 false targets I pulled a ring out of the scoop, it had to be it and luckily for me it was, as I was about to go home. At 1030pm I dropped Riaan’s ring off to him, he was so relieved to get it back.

Recovered by Ian Scott

West Auckland · 16 February 2024

In the middle of January Areej was at her parent’s house showing friends around the garden when her gold ring flicked off her finger as she waved her hand towards the foliage. The story of this ring is that it has been custom made for her daughter shortly after she was born as a keepsake to give her when she is older. It says there is no love like the love of my mother, in Arabic. A ring finder was sent to the property but after 2 hours they could not find it. The ring sat for another month where it had landed less than a metre from where she had been standing, there were many visits to the garden. Areej even bought a cheap metal detector but she also couldn’t find it. I arrived at the residence, after knocking on the door and introducing myself her father took me to where she had been standing, he said they had removed boards from the board walk to see if it was there and gestured that it could have dropped 2 metres from the retaining wall. It turned up 2 metres away in the bushes🏆

Recovered by Ian Scott