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The ring was a dark blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds, in the style of the famous engagement ring of Diana, the late Princess of Wales.
For decades, it held a special place in Linda Paquette’s family. It had been given to her mother by her dad, an RCMP officer, and been part of her mom’s jewelry collection during the many years they lived in North Vancouver.
It was to have been passed down to Linda’s sister Anne, and then to her daughter Emma, who planned to wear it on her wedding day.
But in a devastating mix-up, after the family matriarch’s death in North Vancouver this summer, the ring was inadvertently taken to a local antique shop and sold.
Now the family is hoping whoever bought it might be willing to sell it back.
Linda Paquette said when she was alive, her mother had long promised the sapphire ring to her sister Anne, one of her four surviving siblings. But over a decade ago, in 2009, Anne became gravely ill while she was living in Victoria and her family rushed to her bedside. Paquette said her mother brought the ring and placed it on Anne’s finger as Anne lay dying in hospital. Anne told her daughter Emma, then just 17, that she would one day inherit the ring.
Emma promised her mother she’d wear it on her wedding day. Anne died the next day.
Following Anne’s death, Paquette said her mother took the ring back to North Vancouver.
Years passed, until her mother – who had been living at Amica's seniors’ residence in Edgemont Village – also died in June.
Three of the four Paquette children, and granddaughter Emma Phillips, gathered at the matriarch’s apartment to go through her possessions, all taking some items of sentimental value. Paquette said her brother Paul thought their niece had already taken the ring. But she hadn’t – believing it would be given to her after the estate was settled.
Paul Paquette, who lives closest to their mother’s former home in North Vancouver, was charged with getting rid of the rest of their mom’s possessions.
He took what he thought was leftover jewelry to a North Shore antique store in mid-August, without examining it too closely.
“I can’t tell a diamond from a coke bottle,” he admits.
It was only last month the family discovered to their horror that the sapphire ring promised to Emma was missing.
Realizing his mistake, Paul Paquette said he went back to the antique store, but was told the ring was gone – having sold relatively quickly.
“I could have just puked. My heart was in the pit of my stomach,” he said.
Now with no way to trace the new owner, the family is hoping someone on the North Shore might recognize the ring they bought – and be prepared to sell it back to the family.
“It’s a family heirloom,” said Linda, although she added the family knows they have no legal claim on the ring. “It would be up to them if they wanted to return it.”
It would be particularly special if the ring was returned in time for Emma’s wedding next June, she added.
Anyone who thinks they might have bought or received the ring and is prepared to part with it, can contact the family through Linda Paquette at [email protected].
“We’ve looked into replacing it,” said Linda Paquette. “But it’s just not the same.”
