A diamond ring bought by a London woman in the 1980s for £10 ($13) was just sold for £656,750 ($847,667) at Sotheby’s. The owner bought in in a car-boot sale, which were quite popular in the 1980s, and wore it for decades thinking it was a fake. She brought it in to Sotheby’s when a jeweller told them that the stone might have significant value and advised them to have it appraised.
Jessica Wyndham, head of the auction house’s London jewellery department, called the case “a one-off windfall, an amazing find”, saying that the woman who had bought the diamond had no idea of its real value at the time.
The diamond, according to Sotheby’s, is a “claw-set with a cushion-shaped diamond weighing 26.27 carats, with an attractive colour grade of I and impressive clarity grade of VVS2”. It was estimated by Sotheby’s at £250,000-350,000 ($321,000-450,000), but the sale doubled the highest estimate, and the diamond ended up selling for £656,750 ($847,667).
