A YORK woman who let her granddaughter play with a gem she received in a raffle has had it set into a pendant after discovering it was worth £700.

Glenda Taylor, of Earswick, was one of three hundred people who picked up "diamonds" in the raffle at the Lord Mayor's Valentines Ball.

But only one of the gemstones was real and participants had to take their win to jeweller Inglis and Son, in Stonegate, York, to find out if their stone was the real thing or a worthless imitation.

Sheila Pressland, of Inglis and Son, said Mrs Taylor's daughter brought the stone in and was "screeching" when she found out it was real.

She revealed her mother had left it on the kitchen table where her granddaughter played with it.

The event, organised by the former Lord Mayor of York councillor Charles Hall, raised up to £10,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

Updated: 09:14 Thursday, May 20, 2004