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A scrap metal dealer who bought an ornament from a bric-a-brac market to be melted down for its gold has discovered it is a Faberge egg worth almost $40-million.

The dealer — who wants to remain anonymous — struggled to sell the egg, so kept it in his kitchen for several years until he searched online for “egg” and “Vacheron Constantin”, a name etched on the timepiece inside.

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The result was a Telegraph article with the headline: “Is this pounds £20-million nest-egg on your mantelpiece?”

The article reported the search for a Faberge missing for 90 years which contained a timepiece by the Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin. The dealer contacted the Faberge expert named in the piece, Kieran McCarthy of the Mayfair jeweller Wartski, who flew to the US to verify the discovery. Mr McCarthy likened the moment he saw the egg to “Indiana Jones being presented with the Lost Ark.” He said: “It was a very modest home in the Midwest, next to a highway and a Dunkin’ Donuts. There was the egg, next to some cupcakes on the kitchen counter.