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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A woman renovating her 112-year-old house found something eye-catching in the most unlikely of places.
Abbey Gingras, 31, from Salt Lake, Utah, owns a small 1913 Craftsman bungalow with her husband that they have been renovating for around 18 months now.
Home renovations can be costly and a source of considerable stress. A survey by Platinum Homebuilders and Design of 1,000 U.S. homeowners who had renovated their property within the past three years found 47 percent went over budget.
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Gingras and her husband have been keeping costs low on their project by taking on most of the work themselves. She’s been documenting their progress on Instagram with posts shared under the handle @the1913bungalow.
It’s a process peppered with thankless tasks, like removing the many layers of paint from all of the door knobs, door plates and hinges throughout the house, with a view to returning them to their former glory. But this particular day, things took an unexpected turn.
“We were taking the plates off, along with other metal pieces, to clean them,” Gingras told Newsweek. ”Previous home owners had painted over all the door knobs, plates, hinges, and even handles and vents around the house when they were painting surrounding areas, so they were covered under multiple layers of paint. We wanted to free them!”
It was while removing one of these door handle plates that Gingras made the most unexpected discovery: a ring glued inside. “When we found the ring, we were of course excited,” Gingras said. “Who doesn't dream of finding hidden treasure at some point in their lives? We immediately shared the story with friends and family.”
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Gingras isn’t entirely sure how the ring ended up hidden inside the door, but she suspects it had been in there for a considerable amount of time.
**“**Based on the number of layers of paint encapsulating it, we think the ring had been there since the first layer of paint was put down—probably in the 1920s or 1930s,” she said. “It did look valuable like gold with a ruby or garnet so we think either someone thought it was valuable and intentionally tucked it away, or a child slipped it in through the keyhole intentionally or accidentally and forgot about it.”
Any hopes they might be in line for some unexpected windfall as a result of the discovery were soon dashed though. “We had a jeweler in our neighborhood take a look and it was not real gold or a real stone,” Gingras said.
Despite this the ring is something Gingras has come to cherish, knowing how long it has likely been a part of the house. “It has a lot of sentimental value to us as it's now a part of our story with this house,” she said. “We kept it and I wear it occasionally.”
Gingras decided to post about the discovery to Reddit under the handle u/Fuzzy-Sort809, because of the unique nature of what they found that day. “When you're doing the tedious work of restoring an old house: stripping paint, fixing plaster, that sort of thing, you need other people's progress and delights to keep you going,” she said.
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In doing so, she got a few ideas about what they could do with the ring now. “Someone on Reddit suggested putting it on a tassel and hanging it off the doorknob that we found it with, which I think is a great idea and plan to do soon,” Gingras said.
Though their discovery might not have amounted to much in terms of financial gains, it could have a few other homeowners taking a closer look when it comes to their own renovations.
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