The One That Got Away: Skunked on a 1700s Farm

A Quest for Gold & Ended With   Humble Pie Instead.

It’s the call every metal detectorist dreams of:

a genuine family heirloom, lost and, waiting to be rediscovered. This time, the call came from the owner of a  1700s farm property—a beautiful, historic  land—who was desperate to find her lost gold wedding ring. This wasn’t just any piece of jewelry; it was a cherished family heirloom. It was 3 generations of women who have had 3 ring soldered together to make 1.

Ryan Pugh, Cody Greenwood

and I, a seasoned team of three determined detectorists, arrived on the property with our coils ready to swing.  We were confident, maybe even a little cocky. A small, precious object in a confined area? We’ve had tougher projects.

​The Search: A Sweep for the Ghost of Gold

The landowner, a friendly woman with hope in her eyes, walked us through the exact area where she believed the ring had slipped off.

We mapped out a methodical grid, set our detectors to target golden items,” and started our slow, deliberate sweep across the forest floor.

For hours we chased signals, some deep, some shallow, but every one turned out to be a cruel disappointment.

A pull tab, a scrap of foil, a rusted piece of farm equipment. We expanded the search, overlapping our grids, moving onto the hillside from fence lines where the ring was thought to have been lost.

As the sun climbed higher and the sweat started to bead, a difficult reality began to set in.

One by one, our coils fell silent in the area of interest. All three of us, professionals with countless finds under our belts, were forced to admit the unthinkable: we had been completely unsuccessful.

The heirloom ring remained elusive, swallowed by the earth around us. We had been skunked. We had a few pieces of interest, such as an early 1900’s black powder gun striker, still with the flintlock attached.

​️ The Console Prize: A Forgotten Foundation

It’s always a tough conversation telling a hopeful landowner that you couldn’t complete the mission. It’s simply a part of the gig, but it never gets easier. However, the land wasn’t done talking yet.

​To salvage the day and unwind, we decided to explore a promising area the owner had mentioned—a heavily wooded hill at the back of the property, rumored to be the site of an earlier structure. And that’s where the land gave us its consolation prize.

​We quickly located the telltale stone outline of a long-forgotten foundation, and the finds started flowing:

• ​A Relic of Fashion: An antique suspender strap with the buckles still attached! A stunning piece of 19th-century fabric and metal, perfectly preserved by the soil.
• Light in the Darkness: A fascinating part from an old lantern, hinting at the life lived here after sundown.

• The Signature of History: Loads of square nails,  The unmistakable sign of a pre-industrial timber frame structure.

• The Grand Finale: The find that truly electrified the group, what we think is a beautiful, pitted flintlock mechanism off an old powder musket rifle. A tangible link to the property’s  toughest days.

These finds, though not the gold we were after, painted a vivid picture of the lives lived on this isolated hill decades before the main farmhouse was built.

Unwinding and The Next Hunt:

We left the farm with mixed feelings, disappointment over not finding the ring for sure, but a quiet satisfaction over the historical artifacts we rescued. We loaded our gear and headed straight for the nearest pub. “The Firehouse” in Madoc Ontario.

Nothing cures a ‘skunking’ like a proper lunch and a few honest pints.

Over burgers and brews, we recounted the day’s signals and marvelled at the finds we did make. It was a reminder that this isn’t just a search for treasure, or a ring recovery,  it’s a search for stories.

The gold ring is still out there. Will we go back? You bet we will! But until then, we’ll clean our finds, raise a glass to the history we did uncover, and keep our coils swinging.

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