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The stories below about engagement and wedding rings lost and found under incredible circumstances are beautiful and heartwarming – but we must remember that in the vast majority of cases the odds are stacked against us, and the ring will either never be found, or never returned by the stranger who finds it. Click here to contact us and ask about engagement ring insurance.
1. Swedish couple Ola and Lena Paahlsson lost their engagement ring in 1995. They searched everywhere, even removing the tiling from their floor in an attempt to find it.
Sixteen years later it was pulled up with a carrot from their garden. It had most likely been thrown out with kitchen scraps into the compost, then spread over the garden where the carrot grew right through the ring.
2. Dairy farmer Will Jelbart who had been managing a tourist dairy farm, was told by one of his visitors that a calf had sucked the wedding ring off their finger. 3 years later when the cow was fully grown it was sent to the abattoir. Mr Jelbart visited the butcher’s shop, and along with the butcher, they searched through 150kg of cuts to find the ring in one if it’s stomachs, good as new.
3. Jacob Hickman‘s mechanic discovered a diamond ring underneath the back seat of his car. The vehicle had previously belonged to Leslie Tiller, the wife of his college friend, Adam Tiller.
Six years earlier when Leslie still owned the car, she had taken off the ring to clean it while her fiancée was driving. After dropping the ring she wasn’t able to find it. The couple got a replacement ring and were married a month later.
After Jacob returned the ring to Adam, he decided to wrap it up and give it to Leslie as a Christmas gift. “This is by far the most magical Christmas I’ve ever had. I never thought I’d see that ring again,” said Leslie.
4. Brenda Caunter lost her wedding band 41 years ago while gardening in her yard. They never gave up hope in finding it again, and when her husband Dave spotted the neighbour using a metal detector, he asked him to check the area where Brenda lost her ring. And sure enough, he found it immediately.
5. Julia Boaler thought her ring had been stolen while she was taking a shower at home. She had left it on the window ledge when it vanished. After tearing up lino, ripping up the floorboards and searching everywhere imaginable, they gave up.
A few years later she asked her partner Justin to tidy up the garden and cut the trees back. While doing so, he noticed an old nest in the branches of a tree and used a ladder to inspect it. Inside the nest was the missing ring – it had been stolen by a bird!
6. Vivienne Hunter lost her engagement ring while swimming at the beach. After searching the beach and even investing in a metal detector, the ring was never found. They made an insurance claim and had a replica ring made. That was six years ago and the couple never expected to see the ring again.
Enter 83 year old metal detector hobbyist, Bernard Patterson. An enthusiast since 1979, he’d even been called upon by insurance companies in the past to find jewellery.
This time he’d found a ring while casually metal detecting along the same beach Vivienne had lost her ring years earlier. After Paying for it to be cleaned and polished, Bernard dropped it off at a local police station where the jeweller who made the ring was found thanks to a custom mark left on the ring. The designer recognised it immediately – Vivienne and her husband were contacted, and the ring was returned.
7. Billy Ray Harris, a Missouri homeless man, didn’t realise at first that a generous passerby had accidentally dropped a diamond ring in his cup along with some money. But once he saw it, the man who was raised by his reverend grandfather, knew he would find a way to give it back. He waited for her return, and a couple of days later, she came back to be reunited with her beloved ring!
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