Jun 3, 2009, 4:58 GMT
Wellington - A New Zealand man spurned by the girl of his dreams is giving away the diamond engagement ring he bought for her, but the man he hopes will be luckier than him will have to find it in a treasure hunt this weekend.
Anthony Gardiner, 29, said his hard-luck story, published Wednesday in his local paper, Wellington's Dominion Post, was a simple one.
'I met this girl I thought was pretty cool, bought a ring, turns out she wasn't as keen,' told the paper.
He said he bought the ring, which has five 0.25-carat diamonds set in white gold and is valued at 5,000 New Zealand dollars (3,250 US dollars), in Hong Kong in September.
'Obviously, it's a pretty unlucky ring for me, so it's a spare ring,' he told the paper, saying there was no way he would give it to another woman.
Gardiner, who works in a call centre, said he would hide the ring in Wellington, New Zealand's capital, early Saturday morning and post the first clue on his Twitter social messaging service.
He said he would post more clues throughout the day until the ring was found, keeping an eye on it from nearby so that he could approach the person who finds it and say, 'Congratulations, here's the valuation.'
He said he hoped the ring would be found by 'somebody who's keen, who's found a cool chick and who wants to give them something they normally wouldn't be able to afford.'
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