RAPAPORT... The owner and founder of Devon Fine Jewelry in Wyckoff, New Jersey plans to hide 30 pieces of fine jewelry in northern Bergen County beginning on November 17, placing each item in a shopping bag bearing a "finders keepers" tag. Store owner Nancy Schuring said the move was intended to thank the community for its 30 years of patronage. The hidden jewelry will include a platinum sapphire and diamond ring with a retail value of $3,000, an 18-karat white gold diamond ring valued at $1,000 and pieces featuring pink tourmalines, blue sapphires, diamonds and pearls. Distribution for the hunt will be a week-long process.

Schuring asked only that the lucky few winners notify Devon Fine Jewelry as to where and how they located their jewelry packages. Devon bags could pop up almost anywhere, she said, perhaps at a grocery store or shopping mall, or a library or beauty salon

Schuring, pictured, built Devon Fine Jewelry from the humble beginnings of her apartment in 1983 into a gracious showroom located Wyckoff. In 2008, after a visit to Madagascar, she set up The Devon Foundation, a nonprofit established to help fund gemology and lapidary scholarships for the Malagasi people. She called Madagascar a paradox in that she saw firsthand that the nation offers rich gem deposits, yet its people remain too poor to afford gemology training.