Finders, but not keepers

By CHANSE WATSON

Managing Editor

PINEHURST — It’s like that age-old question; if you find money on the ground, do you keep it or turn it in?

That’s kind of the decision Silver Valley resident Heather Gardner and her fiancé, Dustin Hendzel, were faced with after coming across a diamond ring that was most likely misplaced in a jacket pocket.

Gardner explains that roughly a month ago, she went to the Real Life Ministries Thrift Store in Pinehurst to simply see what was available.

“I like to go down there on Fridays and find the treasures they have for that day,” she said.

As she wandered through the store, she ended up flipping through the men’s jackets rack and came across one she really liked.

“I found the blue North Face one and was shocked that nobody had gotten it all day,” she said. “I had scored on such a find!”

Gardner purchased the jacket and took it home. Weeks went by and even though the jacket had been worn multiple times, no one ever thought to check its chest pocket.

The zipper-pocket was finally opened one night when Gardner’s fiancé and daughter were playing around and hiding a bouncy ball from each other.

“Dustin handed it to me to hide,” Gardner explained. “Lillian thought it was in the jacket’s upper-left-side pocket and began to unzip it. Dustin didn’t know about the pocket, so he said ‘no silly that’s the zipper, it’s not in there.’”

Lillian’s curiosity won out though and she reached into the pocket.

“After reaching in, she had pulled out an engagement ring and asked us whose it was,” Gardner recalled. “Startled, we both didn’t know what to do but to answer “not mine!”

Upon the discovery, the couple had the initial thought that most people would have in that situation.

“Times are hard right now so instantly we had both thought, ‘oh man, is this a blessing from the thrift store?’”

After a few days of research, they found an exact match of the ring online and decided that they needed to find the original owner of the jacket and ring, believing that nobody would purposefully lose such a unique and valuable item.

On Sunday, Gardner made a post on the “SILVER VALLEY CLASSIFIEDS YOU WONT GET KICKED OUT OF” Facebook page, asking for help along with a photo of the jacket.

“ATTENTION TO THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THIS BLUE NORTHFACE JACKET!” she wrote. “I bought this jacket a few weeks ago at the real life thrift store in Pinehurst. We discovered something very meaningful in the pocket and I want to find its owner. If you are it’s rightful owner please message me with detail as to what it could be so I can get it back.”

The amount of attention her message got surprised her.

“I was in shock because in such a small town, they say the word goes around and that’s no lie! In just three days, I had over 120 shares on the post.”

Since the post, no one has stepped up to claim the jacket or the ring, but Gardner is determined to find the owner.

“I know if this was mine, I would be lost and destroyed not having it!” she said. “I hope to find the owner and do the only right thing by getting it back.”

If you have any information about the jacket or the ring, Gardner asks that you message her on Facebook or comment on the post.

Anyone who wishes to claim the ring must provide Gardner with a description of its unique features.