Tiffany, Diamond Bracelets Slipped Into MD Salvation Army Kettle

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A Salvation Army kettle worker stationed outside the Festival at Riva shopping center was stunned when a woman dropped two expensive bracelets into the slot of the donation bucket and wished her a "Merry Christmas" before walking away. Pearl Eldridge, the ringer, said the woman informed her the pieces were sentimental but had not been worn for quite some time.

One of the bracelets was created by Tiffany & Co. and valued at $6,000 by a jeweler. The Salvation Army sold the bracelet for $1,500 worth of donation money, the Capital Gazette reported. A ring and another bracelet made of diamonds and rubies also was donated by the same woman.

“It shocked us when we found out it was all real,” Capt. Ryan Vincent, commander of the Salvation Army in Annapolis, told the Capital Gazette.

The money gleaned from selling the first bracelet would be enough to purchase six months' worth of meals for the children from Robinwood who the Salvation Army feeds on Tuesday afternoons.