£10 ring from car boot that fetched £650k!

A RING bought at a hospital car boot sale for £ 10 was yesterday sold for £656,750 – after it turned out to be a 26-carat diamond.

The lady owner picked up the ring, pictured, in the 1980s, assuming it was decorative costume jewellery, and wore it regularly, even while carrying out chores. But earlier this year she decided to have it valued.

The experts at auctioneers Sotheby’s immediately identified it as a 26.27-carat cushion- shaped diamond and gave it a value of between £250,000 and £350,000.

At an auction in London yesterday a fierce bidding war saw the hammer eventually come down at £540,000, with added costs such has VAT taking the final price to £656,750.

The history of the ring, dubbed The Tenner Diamond, has been shrouded in mystery and very little is known of its provenance. However, industry expert Tobias Kormind, who runs 77Diamonds, is convinced that the ring, which was found at a car boot sale at West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth, West London, could have once been owned by royalty.

He added: ‘It originates from the 1800s – at a time when very few diamonds were available.

‘Several diamond dealers have already inspected it to assess how large a modern-cut diamond can be made from it.’