Grandfather moved to tears after treasure hunter finds wedding ring lost for 40 years!

Source Daily Mail 

A grandfather was moved to tears after being reunited with his wedding ring more than 40 years after he lost it.

Michael Hill and his wife Kaye, both 72, jumped with joy after treasure hunter Jual Butler reunited them with the ring on Sunday.

Mr Hill lost his ring, which is engraved with the date of his wedding, more than 40 years ago when he was mowing the lawn at the couple's home in Tingalpa, Brisbane.

At first he thought the ring would turn up but as the years went by he accepted that his priceless keepsake was lost forever.

But when his children came across Mr Butler on Facebook they enlisted his services.

After coming round with his metal detector Mr Butler was able to find the location of the ring after more than 11 hours of searching.

'It was an emotional time,' Mr Hill said.

'The times I walked over that ring (without knowing it) would have been hundreds of times.'

Finding the wedding band has special significance for the couple who celebrate their 50-year golden wedding anniversary next year.

The loss had always bothered Mr Hill, a retired accountant.

The ring slipped from his finger more than four decades ago as he mowed the lawn and scattering the grass clippings over the fence, not long after he was married.

At first it wasn't such a big deal as Mr Hill thought he knew where he lost it, and that it would turn up as he looked.

But the loss grew over time and the ring remained missing.

'Over the years it became more of something that had to be resolved,' he said on Monday.

The couple went on to have six children and then grandchildren, but still the ring never appeared.

After celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary last month, Mr Hill mentioned the ring again to family members.

One of the couple's children had seen a post on a community Facebook page by Mr Butler, a plumber, from nearby Wynnum, who loves metal detecting.

The treasure hunter had offered to find lost objects in his local area, so the family asked him over to the Hills' home.

Mr Butler, 36, spent just over six hours in heavy rain on Friday searching in the areas Mr Hill described, with no luck.

The determined plumber returned on Sunday to search again for hours, this time targeting the strip of lawn on the right hand side of the house.

'I had a good feeling it was there,' he said.

'It was like it was calling to me.'

Soon, his metal detector screamed out with a positive beep.

'There it was, eight inches down,' he said.

Mr Butler saw the gold glinting as he turned over the plug of earth, and excitedly ran to get his phone to video his find as he teased it from the soil and grass roots.

'It was really a great feeling,' he said.

He excitedly posted his find to the Detecting Downunder Facebook group saying: 'OMG OMG OMG!!!!! I have found it ... I just can't believe it'

Mr Butler said that feeling of returning the ring was the reason he loves treasure hunting with his detector - and made it more exciting than finding pre-decimal coins or artifacts.

'It's almost a passion to help these people return their things,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Hill offered Mr Butler a reward, but he wouldn't take it.

'Just to help decent people, that's all the return I need.'

Mr Hill said he was over the moon with Mr Butler's generosity.

He was amazed that the find was even possible as over the decades the family had concreted areas and put on new rooms.

'It could easily have been in a place under concrete,' he said.

Mr Hill's ring has gone in a special jewellery box with Mrs Hill's matching ring, as it no longer fits on her finger.

'So now hers and mine are together again in a little box, always together,' he said.