The Covid-19 situation has turned the concept of travelling upside down, with borders closing all over the world.

One person affected by this is Solomon Freeman.

Solomon had returned back from the Netherlands recently, and had been living in a property in Singapore which was managed by a hotel.

Solomon, who's from Malaysia, had then left Singapore for Malaysia.

However when he was in Malaysia, Covid-19 persisted and borders were eventually shut down, Solomon was in essence unable to get back into Singapore.

This meant that all his personal belonging in the Singapore property was stuck there indefinitely. Which eventually led to Solomon hiring an international mover to transport his belongings from the Singapore place to his house in Malaysia.

That string of events would eventually lead to three of his rings from his jewellery box going missing.

Speaking to Mothership, Solomon said the entire process was expedited by the hotel staff, who were "very cooperative in assisting" with the relocation, even though the hotel itself was closed for operation at that time.

Everything appeared to be running quite smoothly.

However, when the belongings arrived in Malaysia on July 28, Solomnon noticed that three of his rings had gone missing.

"All my packed belongings (in cardboard boxes) were transported to my residence in Malaysia in the afternoon of 28th July 2020, I only found out my rings were the only valuable items missing in the evening on the same day, after I had finished unpacking & accounted most of the item in my packing list."

Particularly perplexing as all his other items in the jewellery box were untouched, Solomon ventured a guess as to why.

"The 3 stolen rings were stored inside a small wooden jewelry box. Assuming when someone opened the jewelry box, the rings will obviously denote as the most distinctive/valuable item in any layman’s eyes, among all the other pieces of men’s jewelry like cufflinks, and tuxedo studs which all made from precious metal."

Which was not the case, as Solomon pointed out that the cufflinks and tuxedo studs were worth more than the rings, but perhaps those not familiar with men's jewelry might not make that distinction.

Solomon also claimed that while the staff knew he was away at the time, they would have probably taken other items worth more value than the three rings.

According to Solomon, the hotel staff and the owner of the moving company are cooperating with the investigation. The police confirmed with Mothership that a police report had been lodged and investigations were ongoing.

The rings

Which leads to this very perplexing situation. Due to the nature of the incident, moving between two countries, the rings could theoretically be in either country, depending on who took it.

Thus Solomon's reward notice to pawn shops from either side of the causeway. According to an update on his Facebook page, the Singapore Pawnbrokers' Association (SPA) & Malaysia Pawnbroker's Association (MPBA) have been notified.

"The listed ring holds significant meaning only to my clan & worth nothing else but its weight in gold. I'm the 3rd-generation bearer of this ring handed down from my late father when I was 18.

Identification:

Ring material: 24k gold with an imprint of “光明” (Transparency) emblem on the surface.

Another 2 stolen rings were: 24k (Coming-of-Age) gold ring and a 1ct gemstone silver engagement ring.

If you have any information pertaining to this matter, please kindly message me directly on Facebook, thank you very much."

Solomon explained to us why the ring, the heirloom ring, means so much:

"The heirloom ring was originated from my great-uncle (elder brother of my grandfather), a merchant who emigrated from China to Penang Island in the 1920s. During that period, my grandfather’s family operate the largest sundry shop chains in Penang.

The word “光明” (Transparency) was chosen to be engraved onto the heirloom jewelry because it’s my great-uncle’s principle in doing businesses. Unfortunately, my great-uncle passed away early and left the business behind for my grandfather where it fell apart.

When I was 18, I founded my first company in Hong Kong, Belize & Malaysia; My father handed me this ring & only then I was told about its history, he explained that only an entrepreneur is eligible to wear this ring, he was not."

Image from Solomon's Facebook