A precious family heirloom has been reunited with its rightful owner after Police helped close the ring on a long lost item.
In early May, two rings were handed in to the Ōrewa Police Station after volunteers from the Red Cross charity shop located the jewellery inside the back of a donated plastic clock.
Waitematā North Area Prevention Manager, Senior Sergeant Roger Small, says a wedding and engagement ring were inside what appeared to be the original ring box.
“We posted on a number of Facebook and other community pages in the hope of locating the owner, but without luck.
“We then sent them off to Gem Lab where the ring box was from, who contacted us to say they had found an identifying number as they had appraised them in 1996.
“The team there were able to provide us the name of the owner and from there we did a bit of digging.”
Senior Sergeant Small says unfortunately, the phone numbers for the owner were no longer in use.
“We managed to find the owners son, but there were no up to date contact details.
“After making a number of enquiries we ended up contacting the Royal New Zealand Navy as the owner’s son used to be a medic, they were able to provide his contact details.”
He says unfortunately the woman who owned the rings died in November, and her children had been searching high and low for the box.
“The family were so pleased with the news the rings had been found and they have since been bequeathed to the owner’s daughter.
“It’s a great feeling for our team, knowing we have helped reunite this precious item back with family.”
ENDS.
Holly McKay/NZ Police