Inside the Jewelers Center in Chicago’s Diamond District, just over half a mile from the city’s famed Riverwalk, is the jewelry store where Joe Hakimian’s family has done business for almost 50 years.
The small storefront is packed with treasures — diamond tennis bracelets, diamond earrings, diamond rings. It’s safe to say that Mr. Hakimian knows a thing or two about diamonds.
But he did not know about a stolen diamond ring belonging to a Hollywood actress, one that caught his eye at a New York trade show in October that he knew he had to buy.
In December, he posted the ring, a bezel-set rose cut diamond with a yellow gold band — “super stunning and cool,” as he described it — on his company’s website for resale.
Mr. Hakimian said he thought nothing of it again until he got a message last month.
The messenger said the diamond ring could be the one that had been stolen from the actress Lily Collins, the star of the romantic comedy series “Emily in Paris,” in the Los Angeles area almost three years before.
“I was super shocked at first and scared,” Mr. Hakimian said of the message in an interview Saturday. “That’s not something I deal in — stolen products. So that’s horrible.”
Later that same day, Mr. Hakimian connected with Charlie McDowell, the film director who is Ms. Collins’s husband.
The two verified that the ring was indeed the engagement ring that was stolen from Ms. Collins.
Mr. Hakimian, who did not want to discuss what he paid for it, said he quickly arranged for it to be sent back to the couple. The Chicago Tribune on Friday reported on his role in the ring’s return.
“Having this home means so much to us,” Ms. Collins said this month in a social media post that included a photo of her wearing the ring. “I’m still speechless it’s back on my finger.”
The ring was stolen in May 2023, according to reporting by TMZ. Ms. Collins had stowed her belongings — including the engagement ring, her wedding band and electronic devices — in a locker at The Spa at The West Hollywood EDITION.
When she returned, they were gone.
Mr. Hakimian said that Ms. Collins “had hired someone to look for it for many years.” He noted that it was rare for a stolen ring to be found in good condition years later, as thieves usually want to move the jewelry as far away as possible from the original source. The thieves also could have melted the ring down and sold the diamond separately.
“The fact that this was intact, still around three years later, is pretty unheard-of,” Mr. Hakimian said.
Jewelers are vigilant about stolen products, he said, with sales, including the one in which he purchased Ms. Collins’s ring, involving due diligence to determine whether an item was improperly acquired.
But, he said, on rare occasions, things fall through the cracks. At the trade show in New York, nothing suggested there was anything amiss with the ring’s provenance.
Mr. Hakimian said Ms. Collins’s friend and her husband were very nice when they reached out and never accused him of wrongdoing. He said that everyone involved felt that finding the ring was simply meant to be.
As a believer in karma, Mr. Hakimian said he was happy to make things right. That karma has already paid Mr. Hakimian back.
After Ms. Collins posted on Instagram, thanking him and tagging him (he goes by “Joe the Jeweler” online), he received roughly 4,000 new followers and a bunch of emails with appointment requests and engagement ring inquiries.
And while the actress Jennifer Connelly did once wander into his shop, Mr. Hakimian said that he has never been a celebrity jeweler or someone with a prominent profile.
This was a first in his career and even that of his father, who started Hakimian Imports in 1979.
“My dad’s been in the business for almost 50 years — and he is shocked,” he said. “This kind of stuff doesn’t really happen to us.”
Claire Fahy reports on New York City and the surrounding area for The Times.
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