$23,000 Wedding Ring, Accidentally Sold for $5, Returned to Owner - East Idaho News
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$23,000 Wedding Ring, Accidentally Sold for $5, Returned to Owner

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stk81309cor?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1371236006525Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The California husband who accidentally sold his wife’s $23,000 wedding ring for $5 at a garage sale can breathe again.

The people who purchased the seemingly empty watch box that contained the diamond ring Eric Cloutier gave to his wife, Racquel, was returned Thursday to its rightful owner.

“You just can’t ask for a better ending to a story,” Racquel Cloutier, 31, told ABC’s Good Morning America.  “I don’t think I’ll be taking it off anytime soon.”

The ring drama for the Cloutiers began June 1 when Eric rushed home from the hospital where Racquel had just given birth to the couple’s fifth child in order to participate in their Laguna Niguel, Calif., neighborhood’s annual garage sale.

Eric quickly went through the home to find items the family could contribute, including a watch box, one he thought was empty, tucked away in the couple’s closet.

Unbeknownst to Eric, his wife used the box to store her $23,000 diamond wedding ring while she was in the hospital giving birth.

With Racquel away, the watch box was placed on the garage sale’s “For Sale” table with a $5 price tag, the couple told GMA.  By the end of the day, it was in the hands of a female buyer.

That buyer gave the box to her daughter and son-in-law, Andrew and Alyssa Lossau, who were surprised to find the diamond ring inside.

Meanwhile, Racquel Cloutier returned home from the hospital June 5 and discovered her ring was gone, and her husband was to blame.

The Cloutiers shared their story with the media and, by lucky chance, the Lossaus happened to see a story about the lost ring just after they had found it in their newly-acquired watch box.  The Lossaus emailed the couple to let them know they had Racquel’s ring.

Twelve days later, the two couples met for the first time, and Racquel Cloutier got her wedding ring back.

In appreciation for the Lossaus’ honesty, the Cloutiers told the couple they would make a donation to the charity of their choice.

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