Another Lake Lost Rings Search – Lost 25 Years Ago!
A few weeks ago I mentioned to one of my old mates Stewie, about my metal detecting hire services, and was telling him some stories about how I help people find their lost wedding rings, jewellery, money and all the other things that I find with my Minelab Metal Detectors and he his face lit up.
I asked him what was he smiling about, and he told me that around 25 years ago, he was water skiing close to the shores of Lake Dumbleyung on a hot summers day. Being a novice water skiier, he fell off after hitting some wave wash.
To cut a long story short, he told me he and his newly wed wife Tina, were out at the lake with friends, and she was wearing both her wedding ring and engagement ring, and she knew there could be a risk of losing them in the water.
So she took them off and gave them to Stewie for safe keeping, and Stewie stupidly put them in the pocket of his shorts, thinking that they would be safe.
Anyhow Stewie forgot all about the rings in his pocket, and probably had a few beers too many and decided it was time for a ski on the water.
Yep, you guessed it, Stewie jumps in the water, puts some skiis on, falls off straight away, has another go, then gets back into the boat. On return to the ski club, Tina asks for her wedding and engagement rings, and Stewie pats his pockets telling her the rings are safe and sound, and then he feels nothing in his pockets.
It hit Stewie that he has obviously lost the rings in the Lake where he fell off, Tina is absolutely furious and now 25 years later, Tina is still furious with Stewie and I have eased the tension by telling them both that maybe I can find them with my metal detectors.
This search will be a hard search, Lake Dumbleyung is huge, but Stewie has a good idea still to this day where he believes the rings fell out of his pocket.
So soon when the weather cools off a bit I will be heading out to the Lake to hopefull reunite Stewie and Tina with the lost rings.
Currently Lake Dumbleyung is bone dry, and it is Summer weather here in Western Australia, so I am waiting for a cool day, because when detecting on the Lake on a hot day, the white salt reflects all the heat onto my body, so it is like an oven and the flies are really bad.
This Wedsneday it is going to be 42 degrees celcius, way to hot to Metal Detect!
I’ll keep you updated, and if I find them, I will believe that miracles do happen!
I have previously found rings at Lake Dumbleyung, so you just never know.
Read more about my Lake Dumbleyung Metal Detecting Stories
Wedding and Engagement Rings Lost 80 Years Ago – Will I Find Them?
Unfortunately over the last few weeks, I have been unable to head out on any metal detecting jobs as I have just bought a new business, a Post Office / News Agency in the Great Southern town of Dumbleyung.
So I have been working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, trying to get into the routine of my new business venture with my girlfriend Natalie.
So now my metal detecting hours and jobs are very restricted, to the weekends only.
Anyhow having my new business has enabled me to find some interesting future metal detecting hunts.
Today I was talking to a lady who informed me that her Grand Mother, lost both her Engagement Ring and Wedding Ring on the same day at a local lake, not Lake Dumbleyung, but another Lake near the town.
Believe it or not, her Grand Mother lost her Wedding and Engagement Rings at the Lake around 80 years ago when she was in her early 20’s.
Apparently her Gandmother, lost these rings on the shore of the lake at a picnic gathering.
WOW! What a story that would make! Her Grandmother has since passed away, but it would be such a great story, to reunite her Grand Daughter with these lost rings.
This has given me a huge buzz of excitement, as I know for a fact that this Lake has never been metal detected, and there would be a great chance of finding other lost momentos, such as jewellery, coins and much more.
So this weekend, I am going to ride my Polaris 6 Wheeler out to this Lake, and do a thorough search of the Lake to see if I can find these rings which were lost in the 1920’s.
I am pretty excited about this metal detecting ring search.
Do you think I will find them? Stay Tuned!
Aboriginal Stone Tool Identified
Aboriginal dimpled grindstone
The other day I wrote about finding an unusual Aboriginal Stone Tool.
I wrote an email to the Western Australian Museum in Perth, seeking information about it and here is the reply I got.
Dear Bill
Thanks for the email enquiry about the stone tool you found around Dumbleyung on the weekend.
The cylindrical stone is a dimpled grindstone and is typically found throughout the southwest. Their shapes range between the circular one you found to almost square. They were multi-purpose tools used for grinding, cracking seeds and nuts, crushing pigments, or as an anvil for flaking and sharpening stone tools. Constant use over time creates ‘dimples’ or percussion pits on the surface.
I’m hoping that you merely photographed the stone and did not remove it from the site where you found it. But if you did take it away I should point out that removing artefacts from Aboriginal sites is an offence under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (see http://www.dia.wa.gov.au/Heritage–Culture/Heritage-management/Site-disturbance/).
Regards,
Ross Chadwick
Curator, Anthropology & Archaeology Department
Operation Haystack – Metal Detecting Mission Accomplished!
My Minelab Excalibur Metal Detector
About four weeks ago, I got a phonecall from Eddie, to do a metal detecting search for a missing Fork Lift Prong which snapped off inside one of his bales of hay. See that Metal Detecting Story
That search was a successful search, and a few days ago I received another phonecall from Eddie, informing me that they had found one half of a star picket inside a hay bale and they needed my Western Australian Metal Detecting Services to locate the other half of the broken star picket.
For international readers a Star Picket is a Metal Fence Post, used by farmers to fence their paddocks to keep their livestock safe.
Star Picket embedded in the Hay!
Anyhow I arrived at the place, around noon today, and Eddie showed me the bales I had to search, around 20 bales all up.
I used my minelab excalibur metal detector to undertake the search, even though this detector is basically an under water and beach metal detector
, I find this detector very powerful and easy to use, and will pick up all kinds of metal easily.
Eddie arranged the bales, and soon I started getting good signals, around 50% of the bales of hay had pieces of metal, such as bits of wire, but the wire was not what I was looking for. I had to find the star picket.
The Target
With all the bales that I got metal signals from, we put them to one side, and then individually broke open the bales of hay to find what metal was inside of them. About 6 bales of hay later, we found what I was hired to find, the other half of the broke star picket.
Billy "Blog Author" Search Hay Bales
I was happy and Eddie was happy. A big piece of metal inside a bale of hay can do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the hay processor. And if one of those bales of hay was imported overseas and their customers found it, then that could mean a loss of a good valued customer and once again many thousands of dollars to the company.
Very Unusual Aboriginal Fire Making Stone Found
Very Unusal Aboriginal Fire Making Stone
Traditional Aboriginal Fire Lighting Stone
The Aboriginal Fire Lighting Stone picture above was not found by me, but this type of Aboriginal Fire Lighting Stone is similar in shape and rock type to what is usually found in the South West of Western Australia.
Anyhow, Aboriginals carried these stones with them always, just like we do when we go camping, we carry matches or a lighter.
After many times of rubbing the stick on the stone, eventually a small hole or indent will wear away in the stone, such as the photo of the stone I found below.
Assorted Aborigal Stones I Found Yesterday - Fire Lighting - Stone Axe - Knife etc
The most unusual thing about this Aboriginal Fire Lighting Stone that I found is that the stone is in a cylindrical shape, the colour of the stone is white and on both sides it has a small indent on the stone from where a fire lighting stick has been rubbed on it tens of thousands of times.
It is definitely my most favourite Aboriginal Artifact find. What a beautiful tool!
See some other Aboriginal Stones I have found.
Buried Money and a Lost Diamond and Gold Earring
Next Metal Detecting Mission - to find buried stash of money!
The title says it all!
I am heading up to Perth on Thursday to do a couple of Metal Detecting searches for two clients.
Client One informs me that they have buried a stash of money wrapped in foil and enclosed in a jar sealed with a metal lid, thats gotta be one of the strangest phonecalls I have had to date. I asked a few questions, and wondered why the money was buried, but that’s their business and not mine.
I have been told, that all up three jars were buried, two have been successfully recovered by the owner and the person is unable to find the third jar that they have buried. It could be a hard job, as I have been told that the jars were buried in three foot of soil, so I am hoping my Minelab Metal Detectors will get a signal. I have been informed the person has already done a fair bit of digging around, so that could make the mission …. impossible! Of course I am hoping to find the hidden cache, because I have been promised anywhere between $250 and $500 for a reward to find the buried treasure of cold hard cash! I’ll keep you informed.
You’d be surprised the amount of people who bury money!
People hide their money!
Since the beginning of time and still to this day people have hidden their valuables for safekeeping’s. If you ask yourself why… Here are a few reasons.
War Time
War time has caused many people throughout history to rush and hide their most valuable possessions (Gold, Silver, Cash, Jewellery & Paintings) in their homes and on their property, for safe keeping. After the war some were able to recover their valuables, many were not as fortunate.
Banks or financial institutions
Many individuals who grew up during the depression are hiding their money. They fear they may experience what their family went through before them. So they hide money as a way to feel secure. And obviously many people do not trust banks, so they hide or bury their lifesavings.
Sickness
Unfortunatelty, Dementia and Alzheimers Disease affects many people, and obviously this can make people do strange things, such as burying their money and valuables in the backyard. Same goes for people who suffer from gambling problems.
Save it for A Rainy Day
People also hide their money for that rainy day, they think that one day when I retire or get sick, I’ll be okay, because I have this money hidden away … then what happens? BANG … they die suddenly, and no one knows about their hidden stash.
We’ve all hidden our money
Let’s face it, we all hide our money, and most of us, including myself have hidden our money and even forgotten that we’ve hidden our money, then maybe a year or three down the track, we are reading one of our old books, and all of a sudden we turn a page, and there is a couple hundred dollars sitting in between the pages, and we remember … “that’s were I hid it!”
If you feel a close relative may have buried their money, lifesavings, jewels, contact me and I may be able to help you recover it!
Read More About People Burying and Hiding their money, jewellery, and much more (Business operated by good Canadian friend Chris Turner)
Client two, a husband of a lady informs me, his wife who has lost her diamond and gold studded earring, whilst walking on a path in one of the metro suburbs of Perth. So far I have done three metal detecting hire jobs in Perth for lost earrings and I have yet to have any luck on retrieving them. Lost earrings are very hard to find with a metal detector, but I have found earrings on beaches before. So if you have lost a valued piece of jewellery, such as a ring, watch or bracelet, even buried money or jewels and you are thinking of hiring a metal detector to find it, call me first and I’ll be happy to help!
Remember, I don’t charge by the hour, I do my metal detecting hire service based on a reward only if I find your lost item, if I don’t find it, well you don’t have to give me anything!
Huge Needle in a Haystack Found!
Not exactly a Needle in a Haystack - But a Broken Steel Forklift Prong in a haystack!
These may sound a bit weird but today I found a needle in a haystack! But the needle was about three feet long!
Yesterday I received a phone from Eddie in Great Southern region of West Australia. Eddie informed me that when moving some huge hay bales with their forklift one of the needle like prongs snapped off the forklift and he knew that the prong was somewhere inside one of eighteen bales of hay they were sorting and moving with their haystack forklift.
I put one of my Perth Metal Detector Hire flyers at the Coles shopping centre in Narrogin, about a week ago and just by chance Eddie saw the flyer on the classifieds board, so he decided to give me a call to see if I could help him out.
Of course I said yes and today I drove a couple of hours to Narrogin to help find the huge needle in the haystack. I had eighteen bales to search, and by the third bale I got a good signal and presumed that was the bale where the prong was embedded.
Just to make certain, I checked all the rest of the hay bales and the third bale was the only one to send off a beep with my detector.
So Eddie ripped the bale apart, and there it was. He found it in the centre of the bale, he was happy and so was I.
That is definitely one of my unusual metal detecting stories. But it opens my eyes to all the different jobs I could do in helping people, such as farmers who may lose a valuable metal item on their farm and much more.
Liberty Bell?
No, but it looks like it I reckon. Its a old Bird Cage Bell I found out the bush, I kind of like it. Even though its junk, old junk.
Birdcage Bell or Liberty Bell?
