SSS/NSS: Losing the diamond on my engagement ring

[Gothic Girl]

SS: About a week and a half ago, I was driving down the freeway, on my way to a doctor's appt. I looked down at my hand, and to my utter dismay, saw that the diamond on my engagement ring was missing. Now, my wedding set is an heirloom. It originally belonged to my husband's grandmother, then went to his mom, and now to me. Not to mention it was also a 1/2 carat, beautiful diamond. I mean, the rings are pretty plain, just your normal wedding band and plain engagement ring. But the sentimental value of the rings is enormous.

I couldn't believe it was gone. I was so depressed. I searched my truck, searched my parking spot like a crack addict who just droped his rock on a dirty kitchen floor. I searched my carpet, my bathroom, my bedroom, the baby's carseat, and turned up nothing. My husband also searched every square inch of the house, car, and even looked in our courtyard.

NSS: I get home tonight after a bonfire, and I had gone to one of my friend's apartment across the way. Another neighbor was there hanging out, and she began to ask me about my engagement ring. I told her it was at home in my jewelry box. She asked what kind of cut the diamond was and I told her that it was round. She gets up, walks to her apartment, and comes out, handing me my diamond! I couldn't believe it! She found my diamond in my parking spot! She was taking out her trash when she saw something on the ground sparkle. She picked it up, and immediately thought that it must've been mine! Oh man, I'm still in shock that she found it! Thank God for small favors, right? :)

[faither]

Wow!!!! How's that for amazing! Would you please pick me some lottery numbers? :cool:

[Lolita]

Wow, it's so nice of your neighbor to give it back too. I'd bake her some brownies :)

[Jenny]

Awww, that's great!

I know the feeling of being scared something will happen, cause the diamonds in mine are passed down through my hubby's (dead) grandmother, mother then me as well. (Altho MUCH smaller. heh) So I'm always checking it.

[RIVERWIDOW]

Its amazing how unglued we can become when we lose something of sentimenal value. In February I lost my keys at Mission Bay Park at my gr.daughters birthday. Normally it would have been inconvenient but not a big deal. EXCEPT, I had my dads(died in 2003) dogtags on my keychain. I was devastated to think that they had gone thru WW2, Korea and Viet Nam and I lost them . I cried for a week. Now we just joke that Poppa is in a landfill somewhere. We figured out that when someone picked up one of the table clothes and threw it in the trash, my keys were in it. :) I keep hoping that some day they will miraculously be found and someone will trace them to my mom thru his ss#. Unlikely, but still some thing to hang on to. :cry:

[Grimm]

You are so lucky to have such a good neighbor. Most of mine would have kept it and sold it.
You definately need to get them something nice as a thank you. Maybe a gift basket with a card thanking them for being such a great neighbor?

[MikeD]

Most of mine would have kept it and sold it.

Man, where do you live? Ever think of moving?

:shifty:

[ufcrusher]

You do have it appraised and insured right? I know with our insurance, if the diamond falls out or is damaged in any way it will be replaced. (My wife's ring is a family heirloom from my family as well)

Yes, I realize its an heirloom piece, but it is better to recover something then be out the value of the diamond.

[TofuNinja]

WOW!!! that is cool! Truly there are some good people still left in this world!

[brainsmile]

that calls for a good lunch at your hubby's place

[navyones]

Good things happen to good people!!! I am very glad that you found your diamond.

[speedracer120]

You got nice neighbors. I wish my neighbors were like that instead of a-holes. Not that all of them are mind you, but just enough to get on the old nerves every once in a while.

[guiseppewv]

Wow, glad to hear that you got your diamond back and that you have such an honest neighbor!!!! You have got to love good people!!!! :)

[Burzhui]

damn half a carrat is practically unnoticiable on the ground, she must have really good eye sight :) good for you :)

[eSDee]

Congrats GG.

[LPMiller]

SS: About a week and a half ago, I was driving down the freeway, on my way to a doctor's appt. I looked down at my hand, and to my utter dismay, saw that the diamond on my engagement ring was missing. Now, my wedding set is an heirloom. It originally belonged to my husband's grandmother, then went to his mom, and now to me. Not to mention it was also a 1/2 carat, beautiful diamond. I mean, the rings are pretty plain, just your normal wedding band and plain engagement ring. But the sentimental value of the rings is enormous.

I couldn't believe it was gone. I was so depressed. I searched my truck, searched my parking spot like a crack addict who just droped his rock on a dirty kitchen floor. I searched my carpet, my bathroom, my bedroom, the baby's carseat, and turned up nothing. My husband also searched every square inch of the house, car, and even looked in our courtyard.

NSS: I get home tonight after a bonfire, and I had gone to one of my friend's apartment across the way. Another neighbor was there hanging out, and she began to ask me about my engagement ring. I told her it was at home in my jewelry box. She asked what kind of cut the diamond was and I told her that it was round. She gets up, walks to her apartment, and comes out, handing me my diamond! I couldn't believe it! She found my diamond in my parking spot! She was taking out her trash when she saw something on the ground sparkle. She picked it up, and immediately thought that it must've been mine! Oh man, I'm still in shock that she found it! Thank God for small favors, right? :)


Now, take it to a professional, private jeweler to repair. And I mean people that actually make and design custom jewelery - they are pretty easy to find. One, because they tend to work harder than your standard jeweler, especially if they are trying to make a name for themselves. Also, pay for whatever cleanup they suggest - when I had my fathers ring repaired after I lost one of the diamonds, I couldn't believe how they took a 30 year old ring at made it look brand spanking new. Well worth it.

[OremuS]

This same thing happened to my wife about 3-4 months after we got engaged. While her ring doesn't have as much sentimental value, it does have a good amount of financial value (1.2 ct stone). She was at work doing regular office work and looked down only to notice that her diamond was gone. Thankfully after about 10 minutes of looking, she found it on the floor near a coworkers desk. This taught me a big lesson. Always make sure that you have insurance on high value things like engagement rings.

[Gothic Girl]

Well, I got my ring back today. I actually took it to my father-in-law who's a jeweler. Actually, he's my ex's step father. He re-set it for me for free! I guess all the prongs were busted, so he wound up having to completely rebuid all of them from the bottom up. It looks brand new now, and I'm so happy!

So now I'm getting ready to buy stuff to make some cupcakes for my neighbor, and I was just thinking. A few of you mentioned getting insurance on the ring. How would I go about doing that?

[navyones]

Just get the ring appraised, then contact an agent to get the appropriate amount of insurance for the ring.

[ufcrusher]

Contact the company that you have your home insurance/renters insurance through and ask them about insuring individual high value items. They do require that you bring in an appraisal (not sure if they require it be within a certain amount of time) so that they know what they are covering.

For example, while our insurance covers up to a certain value there are deductibles and other costs associated with the standard policy. The jewelry policy has no deductibles is not too expensive and covers loss or damage.

[Gothic Girl]

Thanks for your help. I don't have renter's insurance, but I believe the people who my car insurance is through has it so I'll ask them.

[Jeffbx]

Get renter's insturance while you're at it.

A friend of my wife's didn't have any insurance, and sure enough, her place was broken into while she was at work & they cleaned her out - I mean, backed up a moving truck & took everything. She was pretty devistated, but her family & friends helped her out & she got new furniture, appliances, etc., but of course she was missing a lot of sentimental things. But she recovered - until two months later when they came back & cleaned her out again. Still no insurance the 2nd time. :disa:

I'm sure others have similar horror stories. Insurance can be expensive, but way less expensive than replacing all of your stuff.

OK, OK, one more story.

My brother in law owns a landscaping company. Been in business for 5 years, and is just starting to finish paying off his equipment loans. Just last week, someone broke into a large storage facility where he & several other landscaping companies store their equipment. They made off with about $150k of equipment, including ALL of my BIL's gear. None of it was insured. The worst one was a new mower that he had leased - not only is it gone, he now owes $5000 to the leasing company to replace it.

[GracieBayb]

whoa, i'm so glad you're friend found your rock!!! sheesh, talk about lucky!

[ufcrusher]

For whats its worth, with my policy it ended up costing us almost nothing extra per month due to the multi-policy, multi-line discounts.

Edit - I should have said that our renters insurance cost us almost nothing.

[Apex]

Thank God for small favors, right? :)

I don't know, sounds like a pretty good size favor to me. I guess it would have been a bigger favor if your man was the one who did the losing. ;)

[InfiniteNothing]

For whats its worth, with my policy it ended up costing us almost nothing extra per month due to the multi-policy, multi-line discounts.

I figure in the long run, ring insurance is a game of risk and the insurance company has to stay profitable so they have to tip the odds in their favor.

But for statistical purposes, what insurance company do you use.

[ufcrusher]

I figure in the long run, ring insurance is a game of risk and the insurance company has to stay profitable so they have to tip the odds in their favor.

But for statistical purposes, what insurance company do you use.

We have State Farm.....but we have a LOT of discounts due to how long my wife has had it, multiple cars, multiple policies, etc.