A woman was in for the surprise of her life after realising she had owned a 34-carat diamond for many years. The woman visited an auctioneer in northeast England to sell her costume jewellery which included what she thought was an ordinary stone of little value. Even the auction house initially mistook the stone for cubic zirconia, a synthetic diamond lookalike, until someone suggested that it should be tested. After the stone was confirmed to be a 34-carat diamond, the woman is now set for a 2-million-pound fortune.

On its Instagram account, the Featonby’s Auctioneers and Valuers shared an image of the gem, and how it had come to them.

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“The stone made its way through our doors back in June without any intention,” it said. Following the initial test that confirmed it as a genuine diamond, the auctioneers then sent it to experts in London and Belgium, who confirmed the find.

“34.19ct Round Brilliant Cut Diamond, H colour, VS1 Clarify with a triple excellent cut grade and laser inscription certified by the HRD Diamond Grading Laboratory in Antwerp,” the auction house added.

“What a lush find,” an Instagram user commented on the post.

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The owner of the stone wanted to remain anonymous. The stone will be up for auction on November 30. Mark Lane, of Featonby’s Auctioneers, told BBC that the stone’s owner did not remember when she had acquired  the precious stone. “She told us she’d been having a clearout and that it nearly went in the bin before her neighbour suggested bringing her items to us to get valued.”

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Lane, who has run the auction house for five years, said it was by far the largest-value item he had dealt with. On its website, the ring is valued at around 2 million pounds or ₹ 20 crore approximately.