A jewellery shop in Japan caused queues round the block by giving away thousands of diamonds.

In a PR stunt that appears to have paid handsome dividends, French jewellery house Mauboussin promised to give away a diamond to each of the first 5000 people to turn up at its Tokyo store on Monday.

The flagship store is located in the prestigious Ginza district in Tokyo, but Mauboussin is a relatively unknown brand in Japan and the traffic to the store had apparently not been up to expectations.

So they hit upon this idea to give away diamonds, making sure that there was sufficient advance publicity to create enough interest, and they were rewarded with lines around the block and coverage across the press.

The diamonds were modest in size and value: about 0.10ct in weight and each worth perhaps £30.

Mauboussin hoped to turn some of the 5000 freebie-hunters into paying customers by offering to set their free diamond into a piece of jewellery starting at about £300.