buyer

"It was an electric night," said Andres White Correal, a jewellery specialist from Sotheby's, adding the unnamed female buyer was "ecstatic".

White Correal said the buyer "said something beautiful to me: 'I'm exceptionally happy that I won this lot; but I don't own it, I'm merely the custodian until the next person will come along'."

The three judges unanimously agreed that it would be illegal for the lender to pay any commission to the dealer without the informed consent of the buyer.

It said this provided an incentive for a buyer to be charged a higher than necessary interest rate.

Its owner Hilco had been looking to sell the struggling retailer, but has not managed to find an outright buyer.