9 Years Later, Couple Finds Engagement Ring They Lost While Vacationing in Italy
Originally published on August 22th, 2017.
Justin and Margaret Mussel, a couple from New Jersey, married in 2006 — not long after Justin proposed to Margaret with a lovely 1.1 karat princess-cut diamond crowning a white gold band.
After their wedding, the pair flew to Italy for a romantic vacation. But the trip turned into something of a nightmare when Margaret’s ring slipped off her finger.
“Earlier that day, we had visited Pompeii and it was extremely hot,” Justin told USA Today. “My wife’s ring was loose, but she didn’t realize it was gone until later. She took a nap [after], and woke up and realized she didn’t have it on.”
The couple thoroughly checked their accommodations, but came up empty with their search.
“I felt terrible,” Margaret told ABC. “I knew I should have probably taken it off because I was a little bigger. I just felt really bad that I could have prevented it from falling off, and I kept it on that day."
Related: How to Travel With an Engagement Ring
To make matters worse, the couple explained that they believed the ring was covered under their renter’s insurance — but because the ring was lost on foreign soil they could not file a claim. It took a few years, but eventually Justin bought his bride a new ring and the couple pushed the memory of the lost jewelry out of there minds.
Until they took another trip to Italy, that is.
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Nine years after the ring went missing, the couple — who now have two children — traveled back to Italy on a family vacation. They stayed in the exact same home Justin and Margaret stayed at during their previous travels. There, Justin spotted something shimmering in the pavement.
"I kept saying to Margaret, 'Do you see that?' I see this glimmer coming out of the sidewalk," Justin told ABC.
Justin grabbed a screwdriver and began digging into the crack. After several minutes they dug up the ultimate treasure: The lost engagement ring.
“When it fell off it must have bounced into the crack with the stone facing down,” Justin explained to USA Today. “It was covered in dirt, but there was just enough of the stone sticking out of it.”
After finding the ring, Margaret quickly put the ring on and hasn’t taken it off since.
“The band is a little scuffed up, but not too bad,” she told USA Today. “The diamond looks good. If you saw it, you wouldn’t think it [had been] in a crack for nine years.”
