“Lucky” can mean something different to everyone. Some consider finding a dollar on the street lucky, while others would need to win the lottery. Still, almost everyone can agree that Josh Lanik is one lucky teacher. After all, he found a 2.12-carat diamond while vacationing with his family this year…
How It All Started
Josh Lanik, a teacher from Hebron, Nebraska, had just about the luckiest day of anyone’s life back on July 24. That day, Lanik had taken his children to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, a park famous for the number of diamonds found there. These days, however, the park is pretty well picked over, so the park visitors keep any minerals they can find. The funny thing is, the 36-year-old teacher and his family were looking for something else!
“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,” Lanik said. That’s when he stumbled into a most incredible fortune…
Lying In A Pile Of Dirt
Lanik’s story is one of a diamond in the rough – quite literally! The teacher searched the 37.5-acre territory for almost two hours, without finding the amethyst his family hoped. Then, he found something even better: a gigantic diamond! “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 said about his discovery.
Fortunately, the teacher was careful with his find until showing it to the professionals of the park. He first showed it to his wife, who agreed he had something. Then, Lanik placed it in a brown paper bag along with a few other minerals he found and headed to the Diamond Discovery Center.
The Professional’s Take
The minute Lanik showed the diamond to a staff member, he knew he had something worthwhile. “She wouldn’t tell us whether it was a diamond, but we were pretty sure from her reaction that it was,” the teacher commented.
After a few tests, the Diamond Discovery Center confirmed it: Lanik had found a 2.12-carat diamond, the largest discovery of the year. “Mr. Lanik’s gem is about the size of a jellybean and has a dark brown color, similar to brandy,” Waymond Cox, a park worker, said. “It has a beautiful natural pear shape and smooth, curved facets that give the gem a metallic shine.” Afterward, the Nebraska teacher named his the Lanik Family Diamond, but has yet to decide if he’ll sell it. The diamond is certainly not big enough to retire on, but estimators guess he could make around $1,000 selling it.
A Record Year
While Josh Lanik’s diamond is the biggest of the year, 2019 has turned up record diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Why? “About 14 inches of rain fell at the park on July 16. In the days after the rainfall, park staff registered numerous diamonds found right on the surface of the search area, including two weighing over one carat,” Cox explained. This year, nearly 300 diamonds have been found at the park, weighing a total of 53.94 carats!
We congratulate Lanik and his family on such a fantastic diamond find. Look out for more stories about incredible monetary luck on FinanceChatter!