A Very Happy Mardi Gras

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photos and story by Richard Angelico

I had the occasion to make two young visitors to our city, Mattie Smith and her fiancee Robert very happy today.

Last night they were sitting on a porch uptown and Mattie’s intended dropped her ring on the porch and it bounced into a small but very dense garden loaded with pipes, a fountain, electrical wires and Mardi Gras lights.

Richard-saves-the-dayThey found me on the internet and gave me a call asking for help. So, I brought two detectors and small coils but they were impossible to use in that environment. So, I got my trusty Garrett Pro Pointer out and used that instead. It was tedious searching but that probe is amazing! After an hour, I had found every nail, small metal scrap or foil in the garden but no ring.

I was convinced it had bounced off one of the cast iron plants and was either among the thick stalks or roots or had been deflected towards the fountain. Pulling back the plants further I saw a small rodent hole at the base of the fountain. I stuck the pro pointer in and got a healthy buzz. When I stuck my finger in, I felt the ring and slipped it right out.

Richard-saves-the-day1Mattie didn’t see me so I asked if she would hold the small “test ring” I had brought along because it was interfering with my detector. When her ring hit her hand I thought she would faint!! She started crying, kept hugging me and bombarding me with, “thank you, thank you, thank you”. Robert was quite relieved as well and I certainly could understand that when I saw the beautiful 3.5 carat emerald cut diamond!! From start to finish it took 1 hour and 23 minutes. Made my Mardi Gras weekend!

Relic Hunter Helps Find Diamond

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You likely know Richard Angelico as the investigative reporter that shined the beam of justice on nefarious characters for many decades. Well, he’s casting a different beam now. Mr. Angelico uses all kinds of metal and other detectors to find a wide range of artifacts from the Civil War era.

He does research on areas around the country where he believes relics may be hiding and then goes after them. He’s built quite a reputation as the “go to” guy when it concerns relic hunting.

That proved true when just the other day he received a call from a very concerned family about a precious item that had been lost.

The family of a young lady named Ericka, called him yesterday about renting an underwater machine to look for a brand spanking new engagement ring she lost this past weekend while swimming in the Pearl River with her fiance and friends.

Of course his first question was, “Do you know how to use an underwater detector and how to grid search for a lost item?”

So, long story short, Mr. Angelico called ace water detectorist Mal Theriot. He and Mal headed out to the Pearl River this morning with the young lady and her family in two boats. After 2 1/2 hours Mr. Angelico found the ring in shallow water and everyone was happy once again.