A metal detectorist has reunited a man with his diamond wedding ring after uncovering it on a sandy beach.
Stephane Seguin lost the ring while swimming on a trip to St Augustine, Florida.
The 40-year-old saw detectorist Joseph Cook out searching the sands and asked him to keep an eye-out for his ring.
“When I lost the ring in the sea it felt like falling in a dream,” said Mr. Stephane, a tinsmith from Quebec City.
“We spent every day looking and then we eventually saw Joseph on the beach. I said to Marie-Eve ‘I’m not going to tell him where it is as he’ll look for it and keep it!’
“But she went up to him and he told us if he finds it, he’d return it.”
Little did they know, Joseph had returned a diamond ring worth $40,000 last year after posting a video about the find.
Although the couple returned home to Canada the following week and Joseph still hadn’t uncovered the ring, but the determined hero returned to the spot every day for over a month—and eventually found the gold ring.
“I decided to try one more time and I wasn’t there for more than four minutes and ‘beep beep beep’—and I knew it was theirs.”
As soon as he gets a beep, he starts recording video and uploads all his finds to his social media pages. He had told the couple to follow him on his socials, and if he found the keepsake, he’d return it.
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Just like any other find, Joseph posted it to his social media channels and hoped the couple would see it. Back home, Stephane and Marie-Eve had been watching the videos, in the hopes of spotting the ring.
“I was sure it was going to turn up,” said the groom-to-be.
The Canadian couple bought it in 2011 to be used as a wedding band, but with life and kids taking priority, they postponed the big day and Stephane started wearing it anyway.
“When I saw the video of him finding the ring, I knew it was mine even before he even closed-up on it—it was amazing.”
They sent a message, along with a picture of Stephane wearing the ring to prove it was theirs, then travelled 1,600 miles to collect the ring and thank Joseph in person—and they invited him to their wedding.
The 38-year-old detectorist and content creator said that of all the returns he’d ever facilitated these two were “the most humble people I’ve ever met.”
“They thanked me a million times and said October is a happy month in their life from now on. That’s why I do it.”
Joseph insisted they not pay him any reward, but they had brought him some gift baskets, took him out for dinner, and gifted him with a ring of his own.
“The basket had all sorts of things from Quebec and a coffee mug that said ‘help others’, it was pretty cool.”
“But for me, it’s giving stuff back to the people,” added Joseph. “A ten dollar item to somebody could be worth $10,000 in their mind.”
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Great ending. Since 2011 they couldn’t find a couple of hours to get married at the courthouse? They can always do it again later with style. The times, they are a channnging.”