Brooklyn Bride-to-Be Reunited With 3-Carat Engagement Ring After Losing It in NYC Subway Station

A Brooklyn bride-to-be is breathing a sigh of relief after being reunited with the 3-carat diamond engagement ring she unknowingly lost in a New York City subway station — two months earlier.

Thanks to the honesty of a kindhearted stranger who found the ring near a ticket machine and turned it in to an equally honest station agent, Hager Elsayed's irreplaceable treasure is back in her possession.

The teacher assistant, who got engaged in May of 2012, was riding the subway this past November, when she realized her princess-cut engagement ring was not on her finger. According to ABC News, she initially thought that she had left the ring home, but she came up empty after tearing through her apartment. She concluded that the ring must have slipped off her finger on her way to work and was gone forever.

The bride-to-be was devastated. Her fiancé, Juan Rivera, had worked overtime as a fireproofer to afford the ring, and he had gone to many different jewelry stores before finding just the perfect one. 

Then, one day this past month in a stroke of serendipity, Elsayed was passing through her regular subway station when she noticed the station agent who was on duty the day she lost her ring. 

Elsayed asked the agent, Anthony Tiralosi, if anyone in his station had found an engagement ring.

Tiralosi gave her the good news that an elderly Asian woman, who spoke no English and didn't leave her name, had found the ring and promptly turned it in at his booth. Tiralosi forwarded it to the MTA Lost & Found.

“As soon as I saw it, I knew the ring was worth at least $4,000," Tiralosi told the New York Post. "It was a gorgeous ring. I said, ‘Gee, whoever lost this must feel sick.’”

Tiralosa added that he never considered keeping it. “It was never even a thought,” he said. “I told my kids that night about the ring. I wanted them to know the importance of returning something that didn’t belong to them.”

Elsayed has her ring back and couldn't be happier. She's also expressed gratitude to the super-honest mystery woman who turned it in. “The whole moral of the story is there are still good people out there,” she said.