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- Feb 2, 2016
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What a beautiful heartwarming story @stracci2000 ! You & the old man shared a wonderful connection
@stracci2000, I knew you would have a great story but that really is a GREAT story. I'm sure he was so thankful to find a good soul to help him with his groceries so he could stay with his wife.
I have shown this ring before. It's a .75 OEC, G, VVS, according to the appraisal .
Here is the story.
Back in 2004 I was working in a small grocery store. We had regular customers who came in everyday. One elderly man who came in all the time was named Jim.
Jim was a retired jeweler. I had just learned silversmithing and we would talk about jewelry all the time. I used to ask him lots of questions, and he was very helpful.
Everytime he came in the store he would come through my line and pull something out of his pocket. A pair of jewelers pliers, a file, maybe a few loose gemstones. Over time, he gave me a lot of stuff for my bench, most of which I still have.
One day he showed me his diamond ring. He said it was a Golconda diamond from India. (I have always doubted this story, BTW) He said it fluoresced blue in the sunlight. I gushed over it!
During this time, his wife became sick and bedridden. He was nervous about coming to the store and leaving her alone. I told him to call the store and ask for me, and I would shop for him and run the groceries to his house, which was near the store. So we had that arrangement for a while. When I went to drop off the groceries, we would sit on the porch and he would entertain me with exaggerated stories about his life's adventures and service in WWII, in the South Pacific.
Then his wife died. He was distraught and preoccupied with planning her funeral.
For some reason, he put his diamond ring in some Tarn-X, and forgot about it for a week. The extended soaking in Tarn-X had turned the gold an ugly dark gray. It looked really bad. He brought the ring to me and asked me to clean it, because he no longer had a buffing wheel, and I did.
So I took it home to polish and clean it. DH and I both ogled it and we both exclaimed how beautiful it was!
Some time later, Jim found out that his heart condition had worsened, and he didn't have long to live. He came into the store in December, and in front of the milk case, he pulled his diamond ring out of his pocket and said "Merry Christmas, I want you to have my ring. I won't live much longer, and my family will only sell it. I want you to have it because you will appreciate it."
A few months later he died. I never had the heart to change the setting, so I only had it sized.
I wear it once in a while., and I enjoy it very much!
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Well I'm almost in tears. What a beautiful and heartwarming story.
Can I ask if his family ever knew what happened to his ring?
Sweet little bunnies!! So cute!What a lovely story, @stracci2000 . I'm glad his ring has a good home with you. I've always wished for a connection like that too.
This thread all of a sudden made me remember a pendant that was given to me by my "best friend" when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. I remembered exactly what it looked like, but I have not seen it in years. It might've gotten lost with my mother's jewelry and shifted around, but I found a picture of the exact same one from Rubylane.
Seeing as how I was maybe only 6 or 7, I barely remembered the girl. The only things I recall was that she was very kind to me and her name was Sarah. She also gave me a shark tooth souvenir as well from when she went to the beach with her family. I might try to look through some of my mom's jewelry stashes to see if I can find it, it meant so much to me.
It's too bad I don't know her last name. It would've been fun to try and find her and reconnect after all these years. I wonder if she would even remember me and that she gave me these gifts that I still remember 25+ years later.