Man Sells Wife’s $23,000 Wedding Ring for $10. Oops.

Now the Laguna Niguel, Calif. resident is offering a reward for its safe return.

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ABC News

Well, this is awkward. Eric Cloutier from Laguna Niguel, Calif. was looking for items around the house to sell at a neighborhood garage sale when he spotted his old watch box collecting dust in the closet. What he didn’t realize is that his wife had hidden her $23,000 wedding ring underneath the cushioning inside the box in order to keep the couple’s 2-year-old twins from playing with it while she was at the hospital (giving birth to the couple’s fifth child).

Eric Cloutier sold the box on June 1 to a stranger for a mere $10. “We never use [the watch box], so I said let’s make somebody happy. I looked in it, I didn’t see anything, and I sold it,” he told ABC.

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On June 5, Raquel returned home from the hospital after delivering their son Asher and realized that the ring had gone missing. “I go into my husband’s closet, can’t find the box, and then he tells me he sold it. I said, ‘You sold it? What do you mean you sold it?’ I immediately started crying,” she told local television station KTLA.

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The couple is offering a reward for the irreplaceable ring, which wasn’t insured. They hope it’s safely returned, noting that the box was sold to a middle-aged woman with blonde hair who initially seemed hesitant about going through with the purchase.

“If you’re honest, you’re honest. Clearly, the ring was in the box by accident,” Raquel Cloutier told ABC.