Should Carol Woolton suddenly win the lottery, she plans to splurge her winnings on Lot 1175 at Sotheby’s Royal & Noble Jewels auction, scheduled to take place four days after our Zoom call.

“It’s three rows of collet-set cushion-shaped and circular-cut diamonds – so 300 carats; hinged to emulate movement so it can be worn as a necklace, a négligée, over the shoulder as an epaulette or ras-de-cou [choker] to adorn the décolletage,” she marvels. “Did you know that fashion is the number one destroyer of jewellery with pieces being dismantled and gems repurposed into new styles? The fact this 18th-century Georgian piece has survived is incredible.”