It was a tiny home-made bookmark lost on the platform of a London Underground station.
But a clue stitched on it, Facebook and the Tapanui grapevine meant it is back between the pages of its owner's books.
Tapanui's Thelma (Tuppy) O'Leary made the bookmark for her daughter's stepson Kieran Watkins a decade ago, and sent it to him in London as a Christmas present.
Mr Watkins, a former Daily Mail journalist from the United Kingdom, was working in London at the time he lost the bookmark.
‘‘I remember thinking at the time ‘Oh no, really sad'; I'd had it for a long time.''
Then London woman Kate Iwi found it and took it home, after noticing the embroidered kiwi.
She posted on the Tapanui West Otago Facebook page: ‘‘My name is Kate Iwi, and Kiwi has always been a bit of a nickname for me, so I picked it up just as the train came in.''
She said the bookmark had obviously been made with ‘‘loving care''.
‘‘I felt sorry for whoever had lost the bookmark but assumed it'd be hard to get it back to them.
‘‘It sat on the sideboard for ages until one day I thought I'd look up Tapanui.
‘‘Turns out you're a tiny wee place - so small that I'm guessing that someone who reads this might even know who Kieran and Tuppy are?''
Of course people did.
There was someone who had done an apprenticeship with Mrs O'Leary's late husband and supplied her address, a woman who was her daughter's bridesmaid and another who had lived next door.
Mrs O'Leary said someone rang her and ‘‘nearly blew me away''.
‘‘I was blown away when I heard it belonged to Kieran.
‘‘It was just the loveliest thing.''
As Mr Watkins said: ‘‘Tapanui is quite a small place, isn't it?''
Mr Watkins was notified in February, when someone tagged him in a post on the Tapanui Facebook page.
When he got the notification he was in Belgium, where he is now a masters student studying politics.
‘‘I spoke to Kate, told her it was my bookmark and gave her a bit of background.''
She sent the bookmark to him in Belgium.
Mr Watkins said it was great to read all the comments and replies on the Tapanui page.
‘‘It's a funny story; it's obviously quite crazy, and all because it's a bookmark - that's what's funny about it.''
He said he was still using the bookmark - as a bookmark.
‘‘It's very handy.''
Mr Watkins, who was at his father's house in Outram on holiday yesterday, said he would keep a close watch on it in future.
Mrs O'Leary said she planned to send Ms Iwi a small glass kiwi she had bought.
