Have you got an old string of granny’s pearls sitting in a drawer somewhere? Well you might just want to dig them out!

That’s because rare pearl worn as one of a pair of earrings for years has just sold at auction for a world record £811,000.

It was worn as jewellery by a lady who had absolutely no idea how much it was worth and two large round pearls made up the earrings that had been given to her as a gift by her husband.

He later showed them to experts who identified one of the gems as a natural pearl.

The natural pearl had a diameter of 17.4mm and is the largest of its kind to have ever come up for auction.

Experts from Woolley and Wallis Auctioneers of Salisbury, Wilts, gave it a pre-sale estimate of £120,000.

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