Lost Your Wedding Ring? A Global Network of Metal Detectorists Can Help You Find It

On Friday, October 9, actor Jon Cryer found himself in a scenario many married people dread: He dropped his wedding band outside at night and couldn't find it. Instead of giving up, the Two and a Half Men star reached out to professional jewelry hunter Chris Turner. The pair met up at the spot where Cryer lost the ring that Sunday, and within minutes, Turner had located the missing item using nothing but a metal detector.

"He leans down and grips a wad of grass from the ground. As he pulls a few stray blades from the clump he asks: 'Is this what your ring looks like?'" Cryer recalled in a Twitter thread, "I stammer out 'Are you serious?!?'"

As CTV News reports, Turner belongs to a group of metal detectorists known as The Ring Finders. He developed an interest in hunting for lost jewelry as a teenager, when a neighbor asked for his help finding a wedding ring that had been missing for a decade. Using his new metal detector, he was able to find it for her. In the 50 years since, Turner has used his skills to recover hundreds of items.

Turner's contributions to metal detecting aren't limited to his personal missions. Twenty-five years ago, he founded The Ring Finders, a network of metal detectorists spanning 22 countries. If you've misplaced your ring or other metal valuable, you can use the organization's online directory to locate a Ring Finder near you. For a fee—often it's pay-what-you-can, but each member is different—The Ring Finder specialist will meet you with a metal detector in hand to search for your item.

Cryer is just the latest client the group has helped. To date, The Ring Finders have completed more than 7300 successful recoveries. Most customers are ordinary people turning to the service as a last resort. "People like you are what makes the world go round. I was a complete wreck because I thought I had next to no chance of finding my beloved ring," one client wrote in an online testimonial. "From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU SO MUCH for saving the day."