A nice surprise. You never know what you can get at a car boot sale.

ONE  charity worker from Twickenham, West London received the shock of her life when she discovered a “glass”ring that she bought thirty-three years ago was actually a diamond ring all along.

Fifty-five-year-old Debra Goddard had been keeping the ring in a box for the past 33 years. She bought it for £10 ($13 or around P680) at a boot sale and only brought it out when her 72-year-old mom June Boyle lost all her money to a relative’s fraudulence.

Goddard was hoping the ring would be worth around £750 (around $980 or P51,000), but she was surprised when a jeweler told her it was a 26.27 carat diamond.

“When I went to the jeweler he nearly fainted and said, ‘Do you know what this is? It’s a diamond,’” Goddard was quoted as saying. “I sat up all night looking at it, wondering what to do.”

The ring, which was valued by auction house Sotheby’s at £740,000 ($964,000 or P50.5 million), earned Goddard £470,000 ($612,000 or P32 million) after auction costs. Goddard called this unexpected twist of fate “karma” for all the terrible things that befell their lives.

 

I must have a look among my belongings. Who knows? I might be a millionaire!

I love markets. The old camera was bought at a car boot sale on the way to Norwich.

The cups at Coven Garden Market in London.

Who were they previous owners? What kind of people and landscape has the camera captured over the years? Which fingers and lips have touched and enjoyed coffee  with my beautiful cups before?