Belgian man Charles waited a year after buying the perfect engagement ring for his long-time girlfriend before proposing. Within a week, they had lost it.
The 29-year-old was in Belgium when he came across the ring, resplendent in diamonds and sapphires, and he bought it immediately.
He had been withgirlfriend Marta for almost six years and wanted to wait for the right time to pop the question.
Fast forward one year to the end of September: Charles had been living in Devonport, North Shore, for eight months while Marta, 27, had remained in Belgium. A few days after she had moved to New Zealand to be with him, Charles unveiled the ring.
She said yes immediately.
Two days later, on a Friday night in Ponsonby, the ring had gone.
"It's heartbreaking," says Charles. "It's lost now."
The couple had been attending a friend's birthday party in Ponsonby and, after a few glasses of wine, had taken a taxi from near Three Lamps Plaza to the ferry terminal downtown.
"She was wearing the ring and it was a bit loose, and she was fidgeting with it. We woke up the next morning and we noticed she was not wearing the ring any more," Charles says.
"I'm pretty sure it was lost between the restaurant and the ferry building. She was playing with it in the taxi, but I don't remember her playing with it on the ferry."
Four sets of three small square sapphires adorned the ring, each set separated by a dark-blue diamond.
"It was a pretty unusual design. It's very beautiful. I'd never seen a ring like this in my life before."
Charles says he rang more than 50 taxi companies in Auckland.
"We picked up the taxi on the street so we didn't know which company. It was the worst thing, a white taxi. It could have been any company."
"I called all of them, some several times."
He described the driver and the time and place of the pick-up, but found nothing. A call to police lost property also came up empty.
"We've lost hope. The driver could have taken the ring, but the next customer in the taxi could have as well.
"We will get a new one, but it won't be the same. It may just be discreet, nothing special. There's not much point in having a nice ring because we'd always think about the first one."
