Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Lost & Found: Expensive Diamond Rings Recovered!

If you’re searching for bad news, you’ll find plenty of it by visiting your favorite internet site, tuning in to broadcast news, or by scanning the radio waves. Just for a few moments we’ll leave the gloom and doom stories to CNN and share with you three heartwarming accounts of diamond rings lost, but later recovered. Like lost jewelry, even good news can be found again.



Owner Found for $40K Diamond Engagement Ring
Misplacing jewelry is a common occurrence, but losing a ring valued at more than $40,000 and having the finders go out of their way to reunite the ring with its owner is certainly a rare event. Especially when the clues to identifying ownership are somewhat limited.
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending as the couple who found the ring, Keith and Linda Stetzer, were able to reunite the 3.02 carat solitaire diamond ring with Susan Brahms, the ring’s rightful owner.




In a story that received national headlines, the Stetzers uncovered the engagement ring when they found it in dirt adjacent to a concrete barrier in a Tysons Corner, VA parking garage. The company contacted Mervis Diamond Importers when they noticed the “Mervis” inscription on the band, but Jonathan Mervis – the third generation of jewelers to operate the family business – wasn’t confident that the owner would be located even with that important piece of information.




Happily, news of the missing diamond ring got plenty of air time and it wasn’t long after that when Susan Brahm’s husband, Mark, called claiming he had a certificate in his possession identifying his wife as the owner. The Stetzers immediately brought the ring to Mervis who confirmed that it did, indeed, belong to Susan Brahms as the size and dimension of the ring matched and a rare inscription of “Mervis 2000” was found on the band.




Most encouraging was that neither the Stetzers nor Jonathan Mervis and his wife were comfortable with keeping the ring as both couples wanted to make sure that its owner was found. Mervis expected to sell the ring if the owner didn’t step forward, planning to donate the proceeds of that sale to charity, exactly what the Stetzers did with the reward money given to them by the Brahms.




Fake Ring Turns Out To Be Worth $9000!
In another story about a missing diamond ring recovered, an Arkansas women lost her 1.26 carat engagement ring while shopping at Wal-Mart only to have it found by a six year old girl who thought it was a fake.




Bryant Wal-Mart security cameras spotted the girl picking up the ring in the store’s parking lot and with police help managed to track down the family and reunite the ring with the woman who was wed just last month. When viewing the video, police saw the family’s vehicle and were able to determine which dealership sold their truck to them. The truck’s registration revealed the correct owner whose child’s newly found play thing was actually worth more than nine thousand dollars.




Boy Find Missing Rings In The Toilet
The thought of dropping a toothbrush in the toilet and fishing it out again sounds awful, but the action of a ten year old boy in Chatham, MA helped to reunite a pair of long lost diamond wedding rings with the daughter of the home’s former owner.




Cameron Delonde discovered a pair of rings in the toilet and, with his father’s help, contacted the real estate agent who sold the house to them for help locating the previous owner. The owner’s daughter was found who, along with her brother, realized that these family heirlooms were missing when their mother died fives years ago, never expecting them to be found.
Chris’ father recalled the feelings he had when a favorite ring of his was stolen and was determined to return the rings to its owner.




Inspiring news can be hard to come by, but the kindness of strangers bent on doing the right thing is certainly something to be celebrated.