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Diamond ring needs its owner
Man hopes to return engagement ring found near Yorkville during utility dig By ALLISON SELK
news@kendallcountynow.com
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t was a typical work day when Israel Perez of Channahon and other members of a private engineering consulting firm’s work crew went out to map underground utilities near Yorkville. Shortly after they began to break up soil, a shiny surprise shot up from underground. “Things constantly fly out of the holes we dig, so when this flew up and out, I didn’t pay much attention because it just looked like a pop top,” Perez said. “It was reflecting light and I stared at it again and noticed it was a ring – almost like it wanted to be found.” Perez and crew had looked for water lines and used an air lance with compressed air in a pipe to break up soil and a vacuum hose to remove the soil. He said he was a couple feet underground when the ring shot out onto the ground, so thoughts were it had been there for a while. “Since I didn’t know how long it had been there, I wondered who may have been here in previous generations. Then I thought maybe someone got mad and flung it out of a car window, from a farmer’s wife since we were in farm land, or floated through a nearby culvert; every possibility was on the table,” he said. Perez placed the diamond engagement ring into his pocket for safe keeping and went home to further investigate his finding. “It has unique markings, so I went online to see if I could find similar rings and match it to a store, but I didn’t find any particular style name or ring,” he said. Perez kept the ring safe in his home, and debated whether to take it to authorities, or at-
Did you lose a ring? Anyone who thinks this ring may be their property can contact Israel Perez via email at Israel@izzyworthashotphotography.com. tempt to find the rightful owner himself. See, Perez also has his own photography business on the side, and in his head, he could picture the moment where he handed over the ring to its owner and could capture that moment on camera. “I lost my wedding band and it would have been so neat to have someone return it to me,” Perez said. Mike Harrington, owner of Harrington’s Fine Jewelry in Morris, examined the ring for Perez, but no identifying markers were found. “Sometimes certified stones have laser inscriptions on the girdle of the stone, and with a little investigation, we could find more information, but I didn’t find anything on this stone to help,” Harrington said. Harrington also concluded that due to the 18 karat white gold material, that it was not an older ring as Perez had once thought, but a piece made within the past 20 years. Harrington also offered an estimated appraised value, and identifying markers for Perez to use when a potential owner comes to claim the piece. Perez said anyone who thinks this ring may be their property can contact him via email at Israel@izzyworthashotphotography.com. “I want to capture the emotion of the moment when the owners get the ring in their hands, and I am interested in doing an engagement shoot after I return the ring,” he said.
Photo provided
Israel Perez of Channahon shows the diamond engagement ring he recently found near Yorkville. Perez hopes to reunite the ring with its owner. He brought it to a local jeweler, who said it likely was made within the past 20 years.