Ring Finders ‘detectives’ help people find their lost treasures

Edmonton resident Norm Peters is fluent in the language of metal detection. The 63-year-old is part of an international network of people who help retrieve lost valuables from tricky places – anywhere from lakes to beaches to roadways.

“The machine talks to you,” he told Yahoo Canada News. “You distinguish between a bottle cap or a can. Every one of them has got a different tone and as you learn, you get to know the signals.”

Peters got into metal detecting five years ago when his son lost his wedding ring in the ocean in Mexico after getting married. Though Peters wasn’t able to retrieve his son’s jewelry, it inspired him to take up the hobby.

Since then, he gets about six calls a month, mostly through the Ring Finders, a listing of metal detectors from 22 different countries around the world, which was started by a Vancouver man named Chris Turner. In Canada, there are a total of 36 finders in 51 cities.

Most of the people listed on the website are hobbyists who offer their services based on merit — if they’re able to find the lost item, they leave it up to the owner to decide how much payment should be. However, they often ask for a fee to cover transportation costs.

“People are generous when you find stuff,” says Ryan Fazekas, who’s based in Fort Erie, Ont. “I’ve had people offer to give me everything they’ve got on them just because they’re so happy. They don’t care.”

Fazekas got into the hobby at the age of 10, after being inspired by a friend’s uncle who did it. His dad got him a detector from Radio Shack but over the years, he’s invested in higher end equipment and learned how to scuba dive with the intention of doing underwater searches.

Now, the 35-year-old mostly retrieves items that have been lost in deep water, everything from car keys that have fallen off a boat, to a snowmobile that sunk in a murky pond.

Fazekas, who runs a company that sells metal detector parts, says the machines range in price from $100 to $10,000. He uses ones that are around $1,000 for underwater detecting.

Peters, who has a 95 per cent success rate, says the strangest item he’s come across was a Hindu Goddess statue he accidentally stood on when he was searching for a ring in a pond. It was pointing in the direction that eventually led him to find a lost ring, which he had been searching for over 16 hours.

“I’m giving people a second chance to find their stuff, and then put a smile on their face,” he says.

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