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Couple return to Italy 9 years later, find lost diamond ring

By Ben Hooper
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Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A New Jersey woman who lost her 1.1 karat diamond engagement ring on a trip to Italy was reunited with the piece of jewelry during a return trip 9 years later.

Margaret Mussel, of Brick, said she and her husband, Justin, were visiting with her family in San Marco dei Cavoti, Italy, nine years ago when she noticed her ring was gone.

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"I felt terrible, and I knew I should have probably taken it off because I was a little bigger. I just felt really bad that I could have prevented it from falling off, and I kept it on that day," Margaret told WABC-TV.

"Earlier that day we had visited Pompeii and it was extremely hot," Justin told the Ashbury Park Press. "My wife's ring was loose, but she didn't realize it was gone until later. She took a nap, and woke up and realized she didn't have it on."

The couple replaced the ring after returning home and the lost item became a distant memory -- until they made another trip to Italy two weeks ago.

The couple said they were sitting on the porch of Margaret's family's house when Justin spotted something unusual in the sidewalk.

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"I kept saying to Margaret, 'do you see that?' I see this glimmer coming out of the sidewalk," he said.

"I thought he was crazy," Margaret said. "I was like, 'There's no way the ring is in there.' I couldn't believe it. I thought he was playing a joke."

Justin used a screwdriver to retrieve the object and was shocked to find it was the lost ring.

"I thought maybe it was a coin or something, but never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd ever actually find that ring again nine years later," he said.

Margaret said the ring is back on her finger where it belongs. She said she plans to hold on to the replacement to pass down to her children.

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