January 4th, 2016
Staten Island, N.Y., resident Jean Vlahopouliotis says she's on a mission to locate the rightful owner of a man's wedding band found in the pocket of a pair of jeans she ordered online from NeimanMarcus.com.
On Tuesday of last week, Vlahopouliotis' husband was trying on his late-arriving Christmas gift — a brand new pair of "7 For All Mankind" jeans, size 38 — when he he felt something unusual in one of the front pockets.
“He reached into the left front pocket and pulled out this man’s wedding band,” Vlahopouliotis told CBS New York.
At first, Vlahopouliotis thought her husband, Chris, was joking and that the ring was actually his own wedding band that he misplaced two years ago.
"[I thought] he had found it randomly in the house somewhere and that he was just was teasing me,” Vlahopouliotis said.
But a quick inspection of the ring confirmed that it wasn't her husband's ring at all.
The classic comfort-fit white gold band with a domed profile and milgrain edge was manufactured by Benchmark and contained an important clue — a wedding date inscribed on the inside of the band.
A supervisor for Neiman Marcus was able to tell Vlahopouliotis that her husband's jeans had been shipped from a store in Tyson’s Galleria Mall in McLean, Va., and that the pants were never returned or shipped anywhere else.
Vlahopouliotis guessed that the mystery ring might belong to a store employee or could have slipped off the finger of someone who had previously tried on the pants in-store, before they shipped out.
She also surmised how the ring may have slipped off a finger and gotten into the pocket.
"The pockets are kind of tight," she told SILive.com. "If the ring was the slightest bit loose that could definitely be a possibility."
Vlahopouliotis and her husband can empathize with the gentleman who lost his ring.
“I had lost my engagement ring in my house. It rolled underneath my stove and it’s been gone ever since. And my husband lost his wedding band as well, and we haven’t found either band,” she told CBS New York. “So I know how important it is to get it back to the owner.”
Because she's fairly certain the ring came from the Virginia area, she has shared her story with the Facebook pages of news stations near McLean. If the owner can confirm the ring's inscription, she will return it right away.
“I’m on a wild goose chase and I won’t stop until it’s done,” she told a CBS affiliate in Virginia. “This is my mission.”
Vlahopouliotis continues to have confidence that the power of social media will reunite the ring with its owner. If successful, she promised to take her husband to Atlantic City and, yes, he will be wearing his lucky jeans.
“I’m just hoping we find the person,” she told ABC News. “It’s such a long shot, but crazier things have happened.”
Credits: Jean Vlahopouliotis; Screen captures via newyork.cbslocal.com, Facebook/cbs6wtvr.
On Tuesday of last week, Vlahopouliotis' husband was trying on his late-arriving Christmas gift — a brand new pair of "7 For All Mankind" jeans, size 38 — when he he felt something unusual in one of the front pockets.
“He reached into the left front pocket and pulled out this man’s wedding band,” Vlahopouliotis told CBS New York.
At first, Vlahopouliotis thought her husband, Chris, was joking and that the ring was actually his own wedding band that he misplaced two years ago.
"[I thought] he had found it randomly in the house somewhere and that he was just was teasing me,” Vlahopouliotis said.
But a quick inspection of the ring confirmed that it wasn't her husband's ring at all.
The classic comfort-fit white gold band with a domed profile and milgrain edge was manufactured by Benchmark and contained an important clue — a wedding date inscribed on the inside of the band.
A supervisor for Neiman Marcus was able to tell Vlahopouliotis that her husband's jeans had been shipped from a store in Tyson’s Galleria Mall in McLean, Va., and that the pants were never returned or shipped anywhere else.
Vlahopouliotis guessed that the mystery ring might belong to a store employee or could have slipped off the finger of someone who had previously tried on the pants in-store, before they shipped out.
She also surmised how the ring may have slipped off a finger and gotten into the pocket.
"The pockets are kind of tight," she told SILive.com. "If the ring was the slightest bit loose that could definitely be a possibility."
Vlahopouliotis and her husband can empathize with the gentleman who lost his ring.
“I had lost my engagement ring in my house. It rolled underneath my stove and it’s been gone ever since. And my husband lost his wedding band as well, and we haven’t found either band,” she told CBS New York. “So I know how important it is to get it back to the owner.”
Because she's fairly certain the ring came from the Virginia area, she has shared her story with the Facebook pages of news stations near McLean. If the owner can confirm the ring's inscription, she will return it right away.
“I’m on a wild goose chase and I won’t stop until it’s done,” she told a CBS affiliate in Virginia. “This is my mission.”
Vlahopouliotis continues to have confidence that the power of social media will reunite the ring with its owner. If successful, she promised to take her husband to Atlantic City and, yes, he will be wearing his lucky jeans.
“I’m just hoping we find the person,” she told ABC News. “It’s such a long shot, but crazier things have happened.”
Credits: Jean Vlahopouliotis; Screen captures via newyork.cbslocal.com, Facebook/cbs6wtvr.
