Author Topic: Man finds, returns 12-carat yellow diamond ring  (Read 2424 times)

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Offline raquel_lyks

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Man finds, returns 12-carat yellow diamond ring
« on: January 07, 2011, 11:48:04 PM »
EAGLE COUNTY - A recently laid-off architect from Minnesota found and returned a 12-carat yellow diamond ring worth about two years salary for him.

Authorities in Eagle County say Mark Epple found the ring at the Eagle County Airport in February while returning home with his wife, Karen, after a ski vacation in Beaver Creek.

It had been lost moments earlier when part-time Eagle County residents Roger Ward and Janis Wackenhut Ward were returning to their home in Miami. Janis had taken it off in the car and put it in her lap while applying hand lotion. She didn't think about the ring again until she was home in Miami that evening without it, according to Eagle County.

The diamond ring was a one-of-a-kind. Roger Ward had bought the gem at an estate sale and then commissioned a setting for his wife for their 30th wedding anniversary.

The Wards contacted the Eagle County Airport, who searched the ramps, parking lot, baggage area and even looked through plowed snow, to no avail.

Epple says he found the ring at the curb of the Eagle County Airport while unloading suitcases. It was shiny and a bit dented - apparently run over by a car. Epple assumed it was costume jewelry and put it in his pocket, according to Eagle County, but when he got home and took a closer look at it, he realized it was highly valuable and locked it in his family's safe and called the airport's lost and found.

After verifying Ward was the owner of the ring, it was sent back to him in Miami, via a Brinks courier, all the diamonds still intact. The original jeweler then repaired the damage.

Epple refused a reward initially, to teach his three children a lesson, according to Eagle County. His son had recently been the victim of a bike theft and knew how it felt to lose something of value.

However, Ward learned Epple was an avid skier, and offered the Epples the use of their Cordillera home for a family ski vacation.

According to Eagle County, the Epples arrived in Colorado the day after Christmas to hit the slopes of Vail and Beaver Creek for a family vacation, while staying at the Wards' home.

video linked: http://news.yahoo.com/video/minneapoliswcco-15750988/minnesota-family-gets-colo-stay-for-returning-ring-23753035
:) : Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together..:)