The woman had arrived home to her apartment in the southern Swedish town of Sävsjö at about four o’clock on Thursday afternoon just in time to catch a glimpse of the thief.
A few hours later she saw a man in a grocery store who she suspected was the robber.
She then confronted the man and asked him to return what he’d taken, whereupon the 46-year-old man obliged, giving back the rare knife he’d stolen.
The women then followed the man home and informed the police, who arrested the man, according to TV4 in Jönköping.