A gold ring and necklace have been discovered in the fake bottom of a mug on display at the Auschwitz museum in Poland.

Curators found the jewellery while carrying out preservation work on its collection of enamel kitchenware.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum said the jewellery - like other objects accidentally discovered - would be carefully documented and secured, but warned that the likelihood of finding the owners was slim "because there are no traces left on the objects to help identify them".

It was common for Holocaust victims to hide their valuables in their luggage when they found out that they were due to be removed to death camps.

“The hiding of valuable items — repeatedly mentioned in the accounts of survivors, and which was the reason for ripping and careful search of clothes and suitcases in the warehouse for looted items — proves on the one hand the awareness of the victims as to the robbery nature of the deportation, but on the other hand it shows that the Jewish families constantly had a ray of hope that these items will be required for their future existence,” Piotr Cywinski, director of Auschwitz Museum, said in a statement.