Two rings destined for the charity shop sell for £70,000

COOPER and Tanner sale rooms were ‘absolutely delighted’ after two rings, which were brought in by a local vendor, sold for £70,000 last week.

A vendor, who has been working with the sale rooms team  to sell inherited items from her father, returned when she found more items – this time left to her by her mother-in-law.

Much to the surprise of sale rooms valuer and auctioneer, Gareth Wasp, amongst the items were two diamond rings, one four carat diamond Cartier and one blue sapphire.

Gareth Wasp said, “The vendor told us when dropping off her items, to look through the boxes and to give anything we didn’t want, or couldn’t sell, to a charity shop.

“I looked through the boxes and saw the Cartier ring box staring at me and then a second ring box that featured the sapphire. I then got someone to take a look at the items and the Cartier was valued between £15,000-£20,000. I then called the vendor to tell her and she was absolutely chuffed!”

The items went to auction on Wednesday 21st March and the Cartier four carat diamond ring managed to sell for £42,000, over double the top estimate and the sapphire diamond sold for £28,000.

Gareth continued, “The Cartier is now off to the London trade and will undoubtedly end up in a posh jewellery shop in London. It had nine telephone bids before the auction and a huge interest from London. Knowing the piece would gather interest I made sure all the relevant people, who had the kind of money needed, knew about the sale.

“The vendor’s rings together went for over £70,000 which isn’t bad for rings. If I hadn’t have been on the ball that day, they would have been sent to a charity shop for someone lucky enough to find them.

“It’s amazing as the vendor didn’t even know she had them, never looked at them, so she was very delighted that they sold for what they did.

“The reason the Cartier went for as much as it did was due to it being a four carat diamond, which is already a big diamond on a ring so would be desirable. But this diamond, after inspection, revealed it was in the VS1 category for clarity, meaning it only had very slight inclusions on the diamond.

“The fewer inclusions – or black dots within the diamond – means it is more desirable for a buyer. It was also an added bonus that it was on the original mount and in its original Cartier box. After calling the vendor with the amount, she was absolutely gobsmacked. I think she was too struck with the news as she didn’t mention what she would do with the money. But we were absolutely delighted for her.”

Cooper and Tanner sale rooms, based in Standerwick, offer free valuations for jewellery and other items by appointment.

“Maybe if people looked in their collection, they would be lucky to find a hidden gem like our vendor” added Gareth.

For more information visit www.cooperandtanner. co.uk/sale-rooms.

Above: Gareth Wasp with the Cartier ring.