(FOX NEWS) – Archaeologists in the City of David in Israel have
struck gold twice this year – finding yet another gold ring.

A gold ring set with a red gemstone dating back 2,300 years was
recently discovered in excavations conducted by the Israel
Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University.

The ring is believed to have belonged to a boy or girl living in
Jerusalem in the Second Temple period.

Archaeologists were sifting through the dirt with a sieve near this excavation area when the ring was found. 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) – A California woman found a 4.38-carat
yellow diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park.

According to a release from the park, Noreen Wredberg, of Granite
Bay, California, said she found the diamond sitting on top of the
ground within an hour of searching.

Wredberg said that she and her husband, Michael, arrived at the
Arkansas state park on Thursday. She said she started to search
in a shaded area near the mine entrance, but her husband
suggested they venture farther out.

His suggestion paid off, because about 40 minutes later as she
was walking just north of a central pathway in the search area,
she spotted the sparkling gem on top of the ground.

Noreen Wredberg

On January 25, 1905, at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-
carat diamond was discovered during a routine inspection by the mine’s superintendent. Weighing 1.33 pounds, and christened the “Cullinan,” it
was the largest rough diamond ever found.

Frederick Wells was 18 feet below the earth’s surface when he spotted a
flash of starlight embedded in the wall just above him. His discovery was
presented that same afternoon to Sir Thomas Cullinan, who owned the
mine. Cullinan then sold the diamond to the Transvaal provincial
government, which presented the stone to Britain’s King Edward VII as
a birthday gift. Worried that the diamond might be stolen in transit from
Africa to London, Edward arranged to send a phony diamond aboard a
steamer ship loaded with detectives as a diversionary tactic. While the
decoy slowly made its way from Africa on the ship, the Cullinan was
sent to England in a plain box.

A photograph of the Cullinan Diamond being held by Frederick
Wells, who discovered it.

(Fox News) – A British man who unearthed an estimated 670-year-old medieval
ring in the late 1970s recently rediscovered it hidden in storage boxes — and learned the forgotten treasure is reportedly worth thousands of dollars.

Tom Clark, 81, said he found the ring using a metal detector while he was
treasure-hunting on farmland near Aylesbury, England, in 1979.

He kept the find, placing it in a metal tin and stowing it away in his mother’s
garage. He forgot about the ring for decades — until recently, when Clark
was rummaging through some boxes that he once kept at his mother’s
house.

The ring will be auctioned off on Aug. 27 and is expected to sell for an
estimated $10,000 to $12,000.

Tom Clark

GENEVA (AP) — A large, drop-shaped natural pearl pendant (above) sold for
a hammer price of $32 million at an auction of jewelry that once belonged
to French Queen Marie Antoinette, which Sotheby’s is calling a record
price for a pearl at auction.

The "Queen Marie Antoinette’s Pearl," a diamond-and-pearl pendant, was
among the highlight offerings on the block at the Sotheby’s sale of Bourbon-
Parma dynasty jewelry.
     
 

Marie Antoinette (Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna)
November 2, 1755 – October 16, 1793)

Marie Antoinette was the last Queen of France before the
French Revolution. She was convicted by the Revolutionary
Tribunal of high treason and executed by guillotine on the
Place de la Révolution.