Bumbling Husband Is Out of the Doghouse as $23K Ring Accidentally Sold in a Garage Sale for $5 Is Returned to Owner

A two-week nightmare is finally over for a well-intentioned, but bumbling, husband who accidentally sold his wife’s $23K diamond engagement ring for $5 at his neighborhood’s annual garage sale.

After seeing media reports about the lost ring, a super-honest couple came forward on Thursday to return the 3-carat sparkler that had been hidden beneath a pillow compartment of an old watch box.

How did the ring find its way into the old watch box? Here’s the story…

June 1 was a busy day for the Cloutier family. Mom Racquel had just given birth to her fifth child and dad Eric zipped home from the hospital to participate in the community garage sale with the rest of his family. Eric scoured his house to find the right item to contribute to the sale and came up with a rarely used watch box from his closet.

Eric planned to sell the seemingly empty box for $10, but settled for $5. It turns out that the woman who made the deal then gifted the box to her daughter and son-in-law, Andrew and Alyssa Lossau.

When Racquel returned from the maternity ward she discovered that the watch box and her ring were gone. Racquel had taken off the ring and hidden it in the box days before she entered the hospital because her fingers had swollen due her pregnancy.

"It wasn't until that Tuesday [June 4] that I thought to put my ring back on,” Racquel told The Daily News. “I didn't see the box." Then Eric told her that he sold the box at the garage sale. She began crying, "You just sold my wedding ring!"

The couple turned to the media for help. Their compelling story went viral and was soon picked up by high-profile outlets, such as The Daily News and Good Morning America.

The Lossaus from nearby Mission Viejo, Calif., saw the report and contacted the Cloutiers. On Thursday, the couples met in the heartwarming return of Racquel’s engagement ring.

"I couldn't believe that my ring had come back to me. They really found it!" Cloutier told The Daily News.

The Cloutiers said they would make a donation to the Lossaus’ favorite charity to acknowledge their honesty and kindness.

“You just can’t ask for a better ending to a story,” Racquel told Good Morning America. “I don’t think I’ll be taking [the ring] off anytime soon.”