In a surprising revelation, a British auctioneer, Mark Lane of Featonby’s Auction House, has confessed to concocting a story about discovering a valuable 34-carat diamond, purportedly worth $2.5 million, among seemingly worthless bric-a-brac at a garage sale. Lane admitted in court that he fabricated the narrative with the intention of generating media interest to potentially save his family business, which has been operating for a century.
The fictitious tale, initially reported in October 2021, claimed that an unnamed woman in her 70s had acquired the diamond at a garage sale years ago and almost discarded it during a routine clear-out. Lane asserted that he initially dismissed the gem as cubic zirconia until further examination revealed its true value.
The fabricated story garnered significant attention in British newspapers. Subsequently, an unnamed individual mistakenly believed his ex-wife was the owner of the diamond and took her to court. The case reached the Derby Family Court in central England, where the judge ruled that there was no direct or indirect evidence supporting the claim that the ex-wife, referred to as AM, had ever possessed the diamond.
In reality, the 34.19-carat diamond, with a color grade of H and clarity of VS1, belonged to a dealer in Antwerp and was scheduled for sale at Featonby’s premises in Hatton Garden, London, in November 2021. The dealer, upon seeing the diamond featured in British newspapers, sought clarification and expressed a desire to reclaim the gem, leading to the loss of the intended sale for the auction house.
Judge Deborah Dinan-Hayard remarked in her ruling, as reported by the Daily Telegraph, that the auction house had caused the dealer to lose the sale by publicizing the diamond widely in the media. The admission of fabrication by Mark Lane raises questions about the ethics and integrity within the auction industry.
