Family heirloom accidentally donated to Salvation Army
A local woman is desperate to find a 200-year-old family heirloom after it was donated to the Salvation Army by mistake.
Marlene Allain, 85, is asking the local community to come together to help return a treasured piece of jewellery after her son accidentally donated it with a dress to a local charity shop.
‘It was my great, great-grandmother's,’ said Mrs Allain. At the time, back in November, she was in Southampton Hospital due to a bleed on the brain when her son gave the brooch away by mistake.
The brooch has been handed down to the eldest daughter in the family through the generation.
‘My brother emptied the house and donated the dress with the brooch on to the Salvation Army charity shop,’ said Louise Le Poidevin, Mrs Allain’s daughter.
Mrs Allain has lived in Guernsey her whole life and is keen to have the brooch returned.
The black dress was not meant to be given away, but it was hidden at the bottom of a large pile of clothes.
‘My mum wants it back for sentimental value,’ said Mrs Le Poidevin.
‘She would be overwhelmed to get it back.'
The brooch has an image of a Victorian lady on a black background and is on a safety chain, the size of a normal cameo and surrounded by gold filigree all around.
The black dress it was pinned on was a plain black French dress.
The family will reimburse any individual who has the brooch for the price they purchased it at in the charity shop.
If anyone believes they have bought the lost brooch from the Salvation Army charity shop they can call 01481 238523.
