TORONTO -- A Stanley Cup ring valued at about $35,000 was pulled from an auction after it was found to have been stolen and sold to a pawn shop for a fraction of its value four years ago.

Tim Horton's 1967 Stanley cup ring -- originally belonging to the athlete-turned-restaurateur who co-founded a nationwide coffee and doughnut chain -- was reported stolen by Horton's wife in 1998, police said Wednesday.

It was later sold to a pawn shop for $500, police told CTV News. Police charged the former boyfriend of Horton's wife. But Delores Horton, a key witness, died less than two months before the trial was to proceed.

Police seized the ring from Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers after it went on display Wednesday. The ring will be returned to the Horton family.

Horton played on four Stanley Cup teams with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s. He was killed in a car accident in 1974 in Canada. Horton was 44 at the time of his death.