A PURE diamond kept in a raincoat pocket for 20 years was sold for £21,000 by auctioneers yesterday.

The mystery seller kept the 5.8 carat stone in the pocket of a raincoat hanging up in a cupboard at his Hove home.

The house had been burgled, but thieves never realised the old raincoat contained such a valuable gem.

The large pear-shaped diamond from South Africa is one of the most valuable ever sold by auctioneers in Sussex.

Curtains

It is the largest and purest ever handled by Graves Son and Pilcher at their auction house in Hove.

Both the buyer and seller want to remain anonymous.

Over the past twenty years the stonehas more than doubled in value.

Stephen Perry, senior auctioneer at Graves Son and Pilcher, who sold the stone said: "The coat was kept hanging in the cupboard for 20 years. I think the owner was pretty careful about which coat he wore.

"It is an excellent place because if anyone broke into a house they would not think of going through the pockets of an old coat at the back of a cupboard.

"It is not unusual for people to keep valuables in strange places. People have been know to stitch money and valuables inside curtains or sticky tape things to the underside of desks.

"I have known people to keep diamonds in the freezer tray. We did not keep the diamond in a coat pocket prior to it being sold."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.