Status: Found
Date: Friday August 21st 2026
Location: Odessa, Ontario
Recovery Specialists: James Mathias (Relic Expeditions) & Ryan Pugh (Hoard of the Rings)
Target Item: Men’s Gold Wedding Band
Search Terrain: Poolside Lawn & Deep Pool
The Call: A Repeat Client in Need
When you deliver a successful recovery, word travels fast—and sometimes, it stays right in the family. Ryan Pugh of Hoard of the Rings received a direct call for a lost gold wedding band in Odessa.
The homeowner reached out to Ryan specifically because Ryan had successfully recovered his brother’s missing ring a year prior.
The story behind this loss was classic
Back in 2023, Ryan made his very first official ring recovery for a local man. Fast forward to today, and history didn’t just repeat itself—it stayed in the exact same family circle. This time, it was the original owner’s brother who had lost their grandfather’s wedding band, a cherished heirloom held by the family for 56 years.
summer fun turned frantic search.
The homeowner was in the backyard pool playing pool basketball with his kids, spiking the ball away from the net, when he felt his gold wedding band fly off his finger.
Attempt #1: Battling the Elements
Determined to pull off another win for the family, Ryan headed out to the Odessa property last week to tackle the search. Mother Nature didn’t make it easy—Ryan spent hours gridding the yard in the pouring rain, systematically sweeping the grass where the ring was suspected to have landed.
The property was packed with heavy target signals, making every pass of the detector a meticulous challenge. After hours of grinding through the downpour, Ryan had no choice but to call it a day. But typical Ryan, stepping off the site on day one didn’t mean giving up—it just meant reassessing the strategy.
Developing a Fresh Game Plan
Disappointed with the initial outcome, Ryan called me (James Mathias ) to brainstorm a new angle of attack. When a high-probability target isn’t turning up on the lawn, you have to rethink the environment entirely.
After discussing the dynamics of spiking a basketball over a pool edge, we decided to pivot the search focus. Rather than relying solely on a surface sweep around the pool perimeter, we planned a coordinated deep-water search. I suggested we bring out Ryan’s surface-breather hookah rig so we could get right down to ground level inside the pool, inspecting every inch of the pool bottom and liner crevices, while also dialing in a couple of adjusted machine settings for the heavy ground signals nearby.
I agreed to join Ryan back at the Odessa property this Friday to double-team the search.
The Grind and The Recovery
Back on site, we geared up for what turned into a decent recovery that did not take too much time.
We systematically broke the search area into distinct zones—alternating between methodical sweeps along the outside of the pool and meticulous, high-discrimination sweeps around the surrounding deck and lawn structures.
We dug through A Significant amount of trash signals, checked every solid ping, and exhaustively double-checked every square foot of the property adjacent to the pool areas.
The heat, the clutter of target signals, and the sheer volume of ground to cover made it an absolute test of wills to get through this recovery.
Just as the grueling search was pushing into its final stretch, a crisp, solid tone broke through Ryan’s headphones, near the edge of an overgrown brush area and half underneath a coiled up garden hose burried in over grown grasses. I was called over to the area by Ryan who dropped down, pinpointed the signal, and scooped through the target area with his hands. Shining through the debris after the hose was moved, was a solid flash of gold.
After a relentless two-stage search effort across two different days, the wedding band was back in the hands of its rightful owner (the Grandmother) keeping the family’s and Ryan’s ring recovery streak alive and well in Odessa!
More Than Just a Metal Detector
Metal detecting is often seen as a solitary hobby, but moments like today prove it’s really about community, partnership, and perseverance. Thanks to seamless teamwork and a refusal to give up, a piece of irreplaceable family history is back where it belongs.
Two brothers, two lost rings, and two successful recoveries. By 2 solid metal detectorists, Here’s to the power of persistence—and to keeping family legacies alive!
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