The thought was that the object would be a piece of glass. But in reality it turned out to be a precious diamond! It is also the second largest diamond in 45 years. The incident took place at Diamonds State Park in the US state of Arkansas. The park, once a diamond mine, is now open. Visitors visit there, some looking for diamonds.
The lucky man was identified as Kevin Kinard, 33, according to NDTV, citing Arkansas State Park authorities. Kinard, a banker by profession, went to the park on September 6 with friends to look for diamonds. He had been there many times before, but luck was never on his side.
The park authorities said in a statement that the diamond recovered from Kinard was 9.07 carats. Earlier, a maximum of 18 carat diamonds was found in the park in 1985. Interestingly, the diamond piece is found in a dry place. In this park, visitors usually look for diamonds with pieces of stone in the water area. Kinard also bought a water filter for this.
Park's website
Kinard said he didn't think the shiny piece of marble was anything more than a piece of glass. But he left it in the bag without leaving it. After searching for several hours, they did not find any diamonds and came to the gate of the park. Then show Kinard's girlfriend to the park officials for testing. Seeing his girlfriend, Kinard also showed her the things he had picked up. Park officials confirmed the matter.
Kinard said usually he never showed the collected things to the people in charge of the park. But this time when he saw his girlfriend, he also showed it. They were then taken to a separate room. Then an officer came and gave him this good news.
Kinard went on to express his feelings, saying, ‘When that officer told me the matter, believe me, I cried with emotion. I didn't know what to do. '
Drew Edmunds, a park official, said the piece of diamond found in Kinard was quite large. It is round, dark brown in color. Kinard named this diamond 'Kinard Friendship Diamond'. "Show the park staff what you find," he told diamond seekers.