Debra Goddard, 55, bought a £10 'glass' ring at a flea market 33 years ago. It would have been left in the box if Debra's mother hadn't lost all her money due to her relative's fraud. Debra went to a pawn shop dreaming of getting £750 for it. What was her surprise when the expert told her that the ring was encrusted with 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'. I sat up all night looking at it, wondering what to do," says the charity worker.
She went to Sotheby's, where the authenticity of the stone was proven. The sale of the ring brought the family £470,000.
Debra still lives in a council house in Twickenham, a western suburb of London, but now generously pampers her 72-year-old mother, June Boyle.
"She's had holidays in Barbados, seen Tom Jones, seen Celine Dion in Vegas and bought a fur coat. The money isn't important to me," says the woman.
"It's a reward for all the bad things that happened in our lives, for my mom being deprived of everything."
Goddard has opened a vintage jewelry firm that searches for valuable items at flea markets and has also written a book about her deeds. All the revenue from her book sales she intends to donate to a children's charity.
Source: The Sun
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