Diamond ring bought at car boot sale for $13 valued at $456,000

A 26-carat diamond ring, bought for $13 at a London car boot sale (an outdoor market where people sell personal possessions out of their cars) has been valued at up to $456,000. It is set to be sold on June 7 at a Sotheby’s auction.

The owner bought the ring in the 1980s, thinking it was a piece of ordinary costume jewelery.

“This is an extremely rare find,” said Jessica Wyndham, head of the auction house’s jewelery department. “We’re used to people coming in with pieces from their personal collections but this was exceptional.”

According to Wyndham, the diamond’s sparkle was likely hidden by the darkened ring mount and the old-fashioned style of the jewel’s cut.

“When we think of diamonds, we think of modern cuts, of brilliance,” Wyndham told CNN. “This wouldn’t have looked like that. The silver had tarnished and there was probably some dirt. These diamonds were made for candlelight, not our white artificial light, so it was all about trying to bring out its fire.”

The earliest known stone copy of the Ten Commandments sold at auction in Beverly Hills in 2016 for $850,000.

The stone was first uncovered in 1913.

"The tablet's significance is testament to the deep roots and enduring power of the Commandments that still form the basis of three of the world's great religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam," says David Michaels, director of ancient coins for Heritage Auctions, who will be conducting the sale.

Specialists at Mossgreen auctions in Australia discovered this Ming dynasty banknote hidden inside the head of this 14th century Buddhist carving. The wooden sculpture represents the head of a Luohan -- an enlightened person who has reached Nirvana in Buddhist culture.

Its face value was worth roughly $98 at the time of its circulation and the 700-year-old banknote is believed to have been handmade during China's Ming dynasty. Together, the banknote and sculpture are expected to fetch between $30,000 to $45,000 at auction.

After studying the banknote and carving details, art specialists were able to estimate the sculpture's age, which dates back to China's Hongwu period in the 14th century.

Mossgreen specialists believe this is the first time a Ming dynasty banknote has been found inside a wooden Buddhist sculpture. They say it's more common to find relics and semi-precious stones left by monks inside Buddhist sculptures.

Ten ancient Roman and Ottoman coins were recently discovered in castle ruins in Okinawa, Japan. This image shows the front of one of the Roman coins.

"I couldn't believe they'd found coins from the Roman empire in Kasturen castle," archiologist Hiroyuki Miyagi, from Okinawa International University, told CNN. This is the front of one of the Ottoman coins.

Archaeologists recently unearthed a rare 2,000 year old Roman coin during a scientific dig in Jerusalem. The gold coin features the face of Emperor Nero and was likely struck in 56-57 AD.

In August 2016, the world's largest pearl was discovered under a bed in the Philippines, where it had lain forgotten for over ten years.

This 1,109 carat, tennis ball-sized diamond made headlines in November 2015 when it was pulled out of the Karowe Mine, in Botswana, by Canadian company Lucara Diamond Corp.

In May 2016, divers discovered a 1,600-year-old shipwreck while swimming the ancient Roman port of Caesarea. These rare bronze artifacts were recovered from the ship.

Over 1,300 pounds (590 kg) of bronze Roman coins dating to the 3rd century A.D. were unearthed in April 2016 by construction workers digging a trench in Spain.

In January 2016, over 4,000 Roman coins were discovered by a fruit and vegetable farmer on a molehill in his cherry orchard in Switzerland.

The bead on this bracelet, from Portland-based design company William Henry, is actually made using fossilized mammoth tooth and dinosaur bones.

Discovered: Incredible treasures found in unexpected places

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After decades of wearing the ornament, the owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, decided to have the ring valued at a local jeweler’s, where it was suggested that the ring might be set with a genuine diamond. Eventually it was revealed that the jewel was a cushion-shaped diamond, set in a 19th-century mount.

The ring is now expected to fetch between $325,000 to $456,000 at auction.