'An even more special story now': Lost bracelet with huge sentimental value returning to Cork owner after 20-year search 

A SEARCH for the owner of a uniquely sentimental bracelet has come to an end after 20 years.

Hair salon owner and influencer David Babington — known as Material Boy on Instagram — has moved house four times since finding the bracelet outside Brown Thomas while in his early 20s. However, he always held on to the item of jewellery in the hope that it would one day be reclaimed by its owner.

His initial efforts to find the owner was through an ad in this newspaper. Nonetheless, it was a recent fresh appeal on his Instagram page that finally solved the mystery.

The gold bracelet had been engraved with the names Phil and William, along with a date in the early 1980s. It turned out the bracelet had been given to Phil by her husband, William, after she told him she was pregnant with their youngest child. That child will turn 40 this year.

David said he can’t wait to finally meet Phil tomorrow to return the item.

Despite never meeting the couple, David said he spent much of his life wondering about the kind of life they might lead.

“I heard that William passed away 10 years ago, but I’m really glad to be able to give Phil a little bit of her past back,” he said.

“I placed an ad in The Echo 20 years ago to find the owner. I was clearing out my drawer last week when I came across it again.

“Even after all these years, I felt I needed to do something about it. 

"I posted a picture on my Instagram and a girl named Niamh came back to me saying that it had belonged to her grandmother.”

Phil was able to cast her mind back to the day she lost the item.

“She had been wearing it to Scoozis restaurant for a family dinner,” David explained. “That was the last time she ever saw it.

“It turned out that, at one stage, I had been living around the corner from Phil. However, I never made the connection. Her daughter-in-law had also been a regular client of mine,” he said.

David is glad he never gave up on his search to find the owner.

“I never thought that I would find the person after all this time, but something still told me to hold on to this bracelet,” he said.

“This is one of the most uplifting things that has ever happened to me. It’s an amazing story that we all need during these very dark times.

“I used to think about the date on the bracelet and what it meant to them. I also thought about how they might have looked together.

“The fact that William got this made for Phil after she told him she was pregnant is really sweet. I knew that there was a story behind the date and I’m so glad to have finally got the chance to hear it.

“Hopefully, this will become an heirloom that Phil can pass on to her own daughter who can, in turn, pass it on to her children.

“It has an even more special story now and I’m just glad to be part of it.”