Kevin Kinard found what he thought was a piece of glass.
A man on a visit to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas earlier this month found what he thought was a piece of glass. It turned out to be the second-largest diamond ever found in the park's history.
On Labor Day, Kevin Kinard, a 33-year-old bank branch manager from Maumelle, visited the Crater of Diamonds as he had done many times before. He had never found a diamond there before, but this trip turned his luck around.
According to a press release by the state park, Mr Kinard and his friends had bought equipment to wet sift for diamonds, but the bank manager preferred to surface search. "I only wet sifted for about 10 minutes before I started walking up and down the plowed rows. Anything that looked like a crystal, I picked it up and put it in my bag," he was quoted as saying by the park.
During his search, Mr Kinard came across "a marble-sized crystal" that he thought was nothing more than a chunk of pretty glass. "It kind of looked interesting and shiny, so I put it in my bag and kept searching. I just thought it might've been glass," he said.
After a few hours of searching, the group decided to head back and Mr Kinard, thinking he had not found anything, almost did not get his bag checked. It was only when his friend went back to get bag checked that he followed her and had authorities check his bag too.
He was pulled into a private room after an official went though his rocks and minerals. There, Mr Kinard was informed that the object he thought was a piece of glass was actually a 9.07-carat diamond - the second-largest diamond to ever have been discovered at the park.
At 9.07-carat, this is the second-largest diamond to have ever been found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas
According to Good Morning America, the first largest is a 16-carat diamond found in 1975.
"I honestly teared up when they told me. I was in complete shock!" said Kevin Kinard.
According to Assistant Superintendent Dru Edmonds, "Mr Kinard's diamond is very large, with a brandy brown color. It has a rounded, dewdrop shape and a metallic shine typical of all Crater diamonds."
The diamond has been named the Kinard Friendship Diamond by Mr Kinard, who has one piece of advice for every prospective diamond-seeker: "Have the park staff check everything, because you never know. I would have never in a million years dreamed that I had found anything. Always have them check it!"
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