The Atlantic

The Fellowship of the Ring Finders

A website connects people who have misplaced their rings with metal detectorists who know where to look.
Source: Thomas Northcut / Getty

A man takes off his baseball glove in Central Park. His wedding ring slips off undetected and disappears into the grass. Hours pass before he notices that it’s missing.

A woman reacts in a fit of anger, tossing her engagement ring into the ocean. As it hits the water, pangs of regret settle in.

A tourist visiting Canada removes five sentimental rings to sanitize her hands while in a rental car. Later, when she steps out, they are sent sprawling into the snow, and she doesn’t realize they’re gone until she’s on the flight back home.

Usually, stories of this variety almost always end in tears. Yet these three people found their lost rings, frantically Googling some iteration of and stumbling upon a network of metal detectorists who help people locate their misplaced jewelry. They had found their way to , a service that pairs

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