A Nebraska school teacher, who was visiting Crater of Diamonds State Park while on a family vacation, recently dug up the largest diamond found in the park so far this year.
Josh Lanik, a 36-year-old from Hebron, Nebraska, stopped by the park on July 24 after learning about Arkansas’s diamond site from a coworker who once lived in The Natural State.
According to Lanik, he was searching near the southwest edge of the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area when he picked up the diamond.
“We took the kids to look for amethyst on Canary Hill, and I was walking through an area where it looked like a lot of water had washed when I saw it,” Lanik said, according to a press release from the park.
Lanik said after around two hours searching for diamonds, he found the diamond but wasn’t sure of what he had found.
“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.” Lanik showed the gem to his wife, who was searching nearby, and dropped it into a brown paper sack with several other rocks and minerals.
