Mills Jewelers Notebook
July 14th, 2015
While planting Lucky Bamboo in the backyard of his New Jersey home, Maan Moughawech was spectacularly reunited with a cherished 22-karat wedding band he lost 15 years ago. Many cultures believe that Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana) attracts health, prosperity and good fortune.

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Back in 2000, Moughawech and his wife, Savitree, had been renovating their newly purchased home in Bloomfield when Maan asked his wife to hold his wedding band while he did some painting. She hooked it onto her bangle bracelet for safekeeping.

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“We both continued working, and she went outside to do some work in the backyard,” Maan told ABC News. “At the end of the work day, I asked for the ring back and she discovered that it fell [off] her bangle!”

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The panicked couple retraced Savitree’s steps, which included a search of their backyard, but couldn’t find the brilliant 22-karat gold ring that they had purchased for their wedding ceremony only two years earlier.

“It was nowhere to be found,” he said. “I assumed that it may have been vacuumed up by the lawnmower.”

Accepting their loss, the couple bought a replacement band — one of a similar style and width, but in 14-karat gold instead of 22-karat.

“It did not have the same meaning as the original ring,” Maan admitted. “Once in a while, I would go around the property in search of the ring, but to no avail. So I gave up.”

A few days ago, the still-happy couple decided it was time to plant Lucky Bamboo in the corner of their yard.

As Maan started digging the hole, he recognized something yellow and shiny in the soil.

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“I kneeled down to inspect it, and I instantly knew that it was my lost ring!” he told ABC News.

Probably suspecting that friends and family would have a hard time believing the ring would appear exactly where he placed his shovel, he took out his cell phone and snapped a bunch of pictures of the ring still embedded in the soil.

“Then I cleaned it off and [put] it back where it belongs, 15 years later,” he said. “My wife was in complete disbelief.”

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One shot shows Maan wearing the old and new rings on the same finger. The 22-karat version has a deeper, warmer gold hue than the 14-karat version.

And what became of the Lucky Bamboo? Moughawech completed the hole and planted their good luck charm, which “definitely has a place” in their backyard now, he said.

Images courtesy of Maan Moughawech.