Pennsylvania Man Finds Neighbor's Lost Family Diamond While On Vacation In Florida

February 20, 2026

Talk about a gem of a story.

What started as a heartbreaking loss for one Pennsylvania woman turned into a cross-country mystery — solved thanks to a jeweler, a Facebook post, and some very observant neighbors.

Credit: NBC News Philadelphia

Cindy Ware of Chester County, Pennsylvania, realized a few months ago that the diamond from her ring — a stone passed down through her late husband’s family — had vanished.

“I still don’t believe it. It’s in my purse now but I still don’t believe it,” she said after being reunited with it.

At the time, she had no idea where it could have gone.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Florida, her neighbor Coleman made a surprising discovery. While wearing his water shoes on vacation — at the beach and by the pool — something unusual caught his eye.

“Went down there, wore them, wore them on the beach, to the pool and when I saw it in my shoe I assumed I picked it up in Florida probably at the pool,” Coleman explained.

The small stone was lodged perfectly in the sole of his water shoe. He figured it was just a piece of glass or maybe a fake gem.

But just to be sure, he stopped by a jeweler in Fort Lauderdale.

That’s when the story took a turn.

“He said ‘yes, it’s a diamond from the 50s or 60s. An older cut, nice coloring.’ And said ‘this is a good piece of jewelry,’” Coleman said.

Stunned, he shared a photo on Facebook of the diamond sitting in the bottom of his shoe, joking about the strange find. Within minutes, a friend back home in the Kendal Crosslands Community in Chester County recognized it as possibly belonging to Cindy.

On Valentine’s Day, the mystery was confirmed.

Cindy believes the stone likely fell out during one of her pool exercise classes. Coleman, who plays water volleyball in the same pool, may have unknowingly stepped on it at just the right angle — embedding it securely into the sole of his shoe. Somehow, it stayed there through his entire Florida trip.

“A diamond in a swimming pool to be found at all is impossible,” Cindy said.

“Too many things to have happened just right for me to even know where it was or how it was saved on that shoe.”

The two were already neighbors and friends. Now, they share an unforgettable story — and a reminder that sometimes, even lost treasures find their way home.

“To be able to add even a little bit more happiness there,” Coleman said, “Well, that’s really swell.”