To assume this is my diamond?

[Blueowls]

My engagement ring was a very simple one- a white gold band with a single little diamond. I think it only cost about £150 twenty years ago but that was a lot of money to us back then; I have adored it and would never have wanted to change or upgrade it.

5 years ago I noticed that the little diamond had fallen out somewhere in my bedroom. I had put it back on after a shower and been getting dressed and then saw a very sad looking empty ring. Searched the bedroom with a fine tooth comb at the time and kept a look out for a long time but never found it.

Fast forward to today. We are currently living in a furnished rental house overseas and while sorting through my clothes in my drawers what should I see sitting glinting at the bottom of a drawer- a tiny diamond! The same size as my lost diamond.

Is it my diamond though?! I suppose it's possible that the lost diamond got muddled in clothes or had fallen into the depths of a pocket or something but it also seems a bit unlikely that it's suddenly appeared in a random drawer 5 years later?? I can't be totally sure that it's a real diamond I have found and not a costume jewellery stone but it looks legit and the bottom of it looks as though it has previously been set in a ring.

Should I hand it over to the landlords and ask if previous tenants have lost one, or do I assume it's my lost one and have it placed in my old ring (which is currently in storage back in the UK)?

The stone itself isn't worth more than about £100 (at least that's the quote I got to replace it) but I'm sure it worth far more in sentimental value regardless of who it belonged to.

WWYD?

That is so lucky Blue, it could so easily have been thrown away! Bet your spouse was thrilled to hear you hadn't even noticed it had been missing for a fortnight

I think he was just relieved he hadn't had to endure me having an absolute meltdown over it, or been obligated to be a joint participant in the major search operation

I remember my mum loosing a ring once that my dad had brought her - after a long time of looking he brought a replacement (not sure if it was claimed off insurance or if he just brought it)
Several years later she found it - and even checked her hand to make sure it wasn't the replacement - was in a quilt cover, that had been used many times, washed etc and never discovered

I'd say it's yours

I lost my engagement ring for 4 months. I had taken it off, went to put it on and heard it fall with a ping..never to be seen again. I knew it was in the house but I hunted high and low, used a torch, tights over the vacuum. Nothing. I had recurring dreams about finding it. Then one morning I woke up feeling quite positive and decided to sort out a drawer I had shoved stuff into, minutes into sorting it I found a carrier bag of junk and my ring was at the bottom! It must have fallen into the bag and I’d shoved it in the drawer to make it look tidier (we were going on holiday). DH was away and I rang him crying my eyes out that I’d found it!

I think it’s your diamond. These things sometimes hide in bizarre places and turn up when we least expect it!

Aww it definitely is. Iove this kind of thing. My pandora charm was missing in a similar way and a long time after we moved house it turned up in my bedside drawer. Right on the top so would clearly have been seen of was there before ! - I like to think it has something to do with lost loved ones.

That’s amazing you found it after all this time

Was worth posting the OP just for all the wonderful stories that people have shared!

Will try and remember to update when we get back to the UK and see whether it fits in the empty ring

I lost a diamond from a ring - discovered it was missing as I was getting on a train at the very beginning of a holiday, it had definitely been there when I left the house though. Fast forward several weeks and there it was on the kitchen floor at home! In the end after much head scratching, I decided it must have come off in my coat pocket and been caught on something which eventually got dislodged at home. Well, that's the only way really it could have happened - so I can easily believe that this one is yours!

Is there any simple way of telling whether a stone is a diamond or costume glass? Or would I need a jeweller?

Put the stone over some text. If you see the letters clearly, as if through the glass, - it's some cubic circonia. if you cannot, then it's a diamond, its facets reflect the light and the multiplied reflection distorts the letters beneath.

A diamond will scratch glass.

I accidentally dug out a previous owner's engagement ring in my back garden during the very first week I moved in - decided to put in some flowers to put my stamp on the place - and voila, there it was, on the garden fork. She lost it in similar circumstances almost 30 years ago - planting flowers when they first moved in.