A man who had lost his wedding band while gathering fruit more than half a century ago has finally found it.

It was a present from his late mother on the occasion of his 21st birthday, but he lost it in 1968 while picking strawberries.

Dave Radley, a retired railroad engineer, spent several heartbroken hours searching for his lost ring among the hedges.

When he realized the ring was missing that morning, he was collecting strawberries in the field behind a friend’s father’s house to sell. The 9-carat gold ring he’d been given as a gift a few weeks prior didn’t quite fit.

Fortunately, a metal detectorist who had been given a tip by the landowner about the missing ring discovered the miraculous find just last month.

Dave got a call from Peter, the brother of his friend and current landowner, 54 years after the signet ring went missing.

Peter told his employee, a metal detectorist, about the missing ring and he asked permission to search the exact area where it had been dropped.

Dave drove to Leicestershire later that week to pick it up after finding it buried seven inches deep with only one tiny scratch ready to be polished off.

‘The ring might not have altered, but its owner has,’ said Radley, ‘so it’s very tight fit.’ I had to get it altered somewhat because I can only slip it on with a lot of effort. But it doesn’t matter since I’m just happy to have it back.

I remember spending hours looking for it in the fields where my poor family formerly lived. My mom wasn’t mad at me, but she was sad because I was so distressed.

I still can’t put into words the incredible feeling I had when I got the call from Peter.