Crowning Blooper: Airport Finds Tiara, Decides to Sell It

When Glascow airport workers discovered a diamond tiara in lost luggage in 2006, officials made a surprising decision. Instead of trying to discover who owned the tiara, they sold it and other jewels (worth, it turns out, $157,000) found in the same bag to a local dealer for a few grand and donated the bucks to charity. The story may have ended there, but Duchess Argyll of Scotland happened to spot her missing Cartier brooch earlier this year in an auction catalog, reports the Independent. The auction house was contacted, and it has returned the tiara and jewels. "I'm absolutely amazed," said the 68-year-old duchess. "I thought I'd lost them forever."

Now that the duchess has been reunited with her lost tiara, brooch, and pearl necklace, she's still hoping to find the other lost jewels in her airplane bag of baubles. Airport officials also sold her emerald ring, which hasn't resurfaced, and don't know anything about her missing pearl earrings. A lawyer for the duchess said the airport should have reached out to her when the jewels were first found. "How many tiaras turn up in an airport?" he asked. (More Glascow stories.)