£10 car boot sale ring may fetch £350k

A large, diamond ring is expected to fetch £350,000 at auction 30 years after its owner paid £10 for it at a car boot sale, thinking it was a costume jewel.

The “exceptionallysized” stone was presumed not to be real because 19thcentury diamonds were not cut to show off their brilliance like today’s gems.

And so the owner, unaware of its value, wore it for decades, while doing everything from the shopping to the chores.

The 26.27 carat, cushionshaped, white diamond, snapped up at a Sunday sale at the West Middlesex