He thought the box was empty, but a California husband accidentally sold his wife's $23,000 diamond wedding ring for $10 at a garage sale on June 1.

"Every year our community holds a garage sale. I was in the hospital, I just had a baby, so my husband thought it would be fun for my other kids if they could sell some things at the garage sale," said Racquel Cloutier, 31, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., who owns the ring.

For the sale Eric Cloutier chose things he thought the family no longer needed, including a seemingly empty watch box.

"He didn't know that before I went to the hospital, I put my ring in that box. I wanted the ring to be in a safe place and out of reach from my 2-year-old twins," Cloutier told ABC News.

Cloutier realized her ring, and the box it was in, was missing a day after she returned from the hospital, June 5.

"I go into my husband's closet, can't find the box, and then he tells me he sold it. I said, 'You sold it? What do you mean you sold it?' I immediately started crying," Cloutier said.

"I'm very, very, very upset," Cloutier continued. "I'm trying to remain optimistic but I don't know anymore. There's a small chance whoever bought the box doesn't know the ring is in there."

According to Cloutier, the ring was inadvertently bought by a blonde woman who was at first unsure if she would even buy the watch box.

"I would never, ever keep the ring if I had found it," Cloutier said. "If you're honest, you're honest. Clearly, the ring was in the box by accident."

As for Cloutier's husband, "He feels really terrible," she said.