Story & Photo – Joseph Boyle
Chapter I – Gold Nugget Ring
In 1966 my future wife and I decided to spend the money required to buy a wedding band for me.
It was a lot of money and we did not have a lot of money, but since we planned to marry only once, we spent the $35.00 for the gold nugget wedding ring.
It was not the kind of ring that would fall off my hand easily. I was not in the habit of taking it off at night, nor did I remove the ring for hand washing.
The ring was on my hand close to 45 years.
Chapter II – Lost Ring
One night in January 2011, I was driving home from work. It was already dark. I never knew I had the habit until I felt my left thumb reach over to my wedding ring finger to touch and twist the ring. I shockingly discovered there was no ring. I turned on the dome light and confirmed my ring was gone.
After dinner, I drove back to my office and searched my car, the parking lot, my office and the office building in the area of my path of travel.
Ultimately, I had to face it. My ring was gone.
We thought the ring may have cracked and fallen off. It could be stuck in one of my hundreds of case files.
I put out an all-building e-mail notice to let people in my 12-story building know my wedding ring was missing.
Numerous individuals expressed their sorrow for my having lost the ring. Kind inquiries, asking about my missing ring, continued for months.
Maintaining a positive thought that the ring would return, I resisted popping into a jewelry store to pick up another $35 gold nugget ring.
When I finally gave in and visited several jewelry stores, I was reminded that the price of gold had risen significantly since 1966. Additionally, I learned they no longer make gold nugget wedding bands. Gold nugget rings have not been available for 15 years.
One jeweler thought she could have one custom made for $6,000.
Looking back, I guess we should have bought a sack of these $35 rings.
Just this morning I looked at a business card from Kit Kuhn, an independent Gig Harbor jeweler, and thought to myself, “I guess I better give Kit a call and place an order.” Kit was willing to hand make a beautiful custom gold nugget ring for $2,000.
My wife independently thought, “I should talk to Joe about having a new ring made.”
Chapter III – Found Ring
This morning there was an especially sweet sounding message on my office phone from my wife. She asked me to call her for some good news.
When I called her back, she informed me that she found my ring in a most unlikely place in the wrinkles of a black plastic bag in a storage box under our bed. She had cleaned under our bed several times since the ring disappeared, but had never noticed the ring tucked into the crease of the bag.
Oh my, what a mystery! We had no idea how the ring would have ended up in that location.
On my way home, I picked up some roses along with a note that reads, “Thank you for giving me the gift of my wedding ring, twice.”
Chapter IV – Mystery Solved
The first night we went to bed after recovering my ring, a plausible theory came to mind. Our king size bed is designed so there is a space or crack between the two mattresses and box springs that reaches all the way to the floor. The ring must have fallen through this space into the storage bin below.
Don’t you just love a story that ends with a happy ring?
Nice! I’m glad you got your ring back.
What a gem of a story, Joe! I’ll have to take a closer look at your nugget ring. It appears to have lots of character (how appropriate!) and was quite a bold investment in those days. Our 1966 pair of 14k gold bands were $18 (his) and $12 (mine) – totaling less than yours alone. But we can no longer wear them, with arthritis-swollen knuckles. Hard to imagine yours falling off on its own. You weren’t helping with the HOUSEWORK, were you? Wrestling sheets onto that mattress?