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.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1947, the engagement of Britain’s Princess Elizabeth
to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.
 

On this day in 1997, Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring
and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield
during their bout on June 22, 1997 (below).

Actor Rodney Stephen Steiger
(April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002)

Cited as "one of Hollywood’s most charismatic
and dynamic stars", Steiger died of pneumonia
and kidney failure as a result of complications
from surgery for a gall bladder tumor on July 9,
2002, in Los Angeles. He was 77.

Rod Steiger in 1969

Rod Steiger received his third Oscar nomination and won
his only Oscar for playing Gillespie, a police chief in the
1969 film The Heat of the Night (1967).

Popular actor Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is 62 today.

Legendary actor Tom Hanks has won back-to-back Academy Awards for
Best Actor for his roles in Philadelphia in 1993 and Forrest Gump in
1994. He has starred in many other classics, including Cast Away 
(2000), The Green Mile (1999), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and Apollo
13 (1995).

1986