More than 50,000 Facebookers are pitching in to help Long Island retiree John Farrelly find the rightful owner of the beautiful diamond engagement ring he found half-buried at a local beach.
After learning from a local jeweler that the ring was, indeed, real, the North Babylon resident has been committed to doing the right thing.
Within one week of posting a photo of the ring and explanation of where he found it, Farrelly’s story sparked the action of more than 50,000 Facebook users, who were happy to share the post with their own Facebook friends. New York’s CBS affiliate then jumped on the viral story and ran a two-minute news feature during Monday evening’s television broadcast.
Despite the ring's value, Farrelly never considered keeping it or trying to sell it. “I couldn’t see anything different than trying to return it to the rightful owner,” he told CBS News.
When Facebook user Karen Mulcahy told Farrelly that he is “an outstanding man” in one of the many comments about his post, the modest Good Samaritan responded, “Thanks Karen, but I am only doing the right thing.”
Farrelly seems to have a special appreciation for diamonds, especially the one he rescued. “The stone is gorgeous,” he told a CBS News reporter. “The sparkle that comes off of it in the sunshine is spectacular.”
In fact, it was the radiance of the center diamond that led him to find the ring in the first place. “I just saw that little sparkle, and I brushed around the sand, and there it was,” Farrelly said.
Back in August, Farrelly was packing up his belongings after a leisurely beach day at Robert Moses State Park when a twinkle emanating from the sand caught his attention. On closer inspection, the source of the twinkle was the diamond center stone of a half-buried engagement ring.
He immediately alerted the park police, but was told that nobody had reported a missing engagement ring.
A local jeweler confirmed that the gems and gold were real and that the ring had special markings in the band that only the rightful owner would know.
So far, Farrelly’s publicity strategy has been top rate. Unfortunately, as of last night, the owner had yet to come forward.
Because there’s no way to tell how long the ring had been buried in the sand, the father of five is planning to reconnect with the park police to dig through missing-ring reports that date back several years, according to CBS News.
Images: Screen captures via CBS New York; Facebook/John Farrelly
No comments:
Post a Comment