Josh Lanik, 36, of Nebraska and his family were searching for gems near the southwest edge of the Crater of Diamonds State Park, according to a news release from the park. After about two hours, he spotted something unique.
“It was blatantly obvious there was something different about it. I saw the shine, and when I picked it up and rolled it in my hand, I noticed there weren’t any sharp edges," he said in a statement.
He and his wife took the gem along with several other rocks and minerals to be identified by park officials. A park employee put his brandy-colored gem into a pill bottle and took it to a back office.
The diamond was determined to weigh 2.1 carats, the largest found in the park so far this year.
“Mr. Lanik’s gem is about the size of a jellybean and has a dark brown color, similar to brandy. It has a beautiful natural pear shape and smooth, curved facets that give the gem a metallic shine," according to park interpreter Waymon Cox.
Cox said recent rainfall likely helped unearth the diamond, one of 296 diamonds that have been registered at the park so far this year. The gems weigh a total of 53.94 carats, and 11 of them weighed in at least one carat.
Lanik did not share how much the diamond is worth, but the Post reported that cut brown diamonds of similar size were being sold on eBay for less than $1,000.
The park's diamond search area is the eroded remains of an ancient, diamond-bearing volcanic crater where the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed in 1924. The gem, found during an early mining operation, a white diamond with a pink cast, weighed 40.23 carats and named the Uncle Sam.
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