If you've been holding off on cleaning out that closet or attic, maybe this story will give you the kickstart you need. A woman in Northumberland, in the U.K., came across quite a find. What she though was just costume jewelry turned out to be worth a fortune.
The woman, described to be in her 70s, brought in a number of items to be valued. Most of the items she took in were things she bought at car boot sales over the years. But never did she ever imagine that anything would be worth $2.67 million dollars. In fact, the auctioneer she took the items to, Mark Lane, didn't expect the items to be worth much.
The Diamond
In fact, he describes the encounter to BBC, saying,
"The lady came in with a bag of [jewelry] as she just thought she would bring it in as she was passing because she had another appointment in the town.
It had been in a box along with her wedding band and a number of low-value costume [jewelry] items.
We saw quite a large stone, bigger than a pound coin, and I thought it was a CZ [cubic zirconia, a synthetic diamond lookalike]. It sat on my desk for two or three days until I used a diamond tester machine.
We then sent it off to our partners in London before it was certified by experts in Antwerp, Belgium, who confirmed it is 34 carat.
She's always visited car boot sales and bought trinkets, but never once did she think it was a real diamond.
She told us she'd been having a clearout and that it nearly went in the bin before her neighbour suggested bringing her items to us to get valued.The colour, the clarity, the size... to find a 34-carat diamond is off the scale."
Up For Auction
This is by far the biggest find in the history Land's five year stint as the owner of the auction shop. The diamond will be auctioned off on November 30 at Featonbys.
