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The diamond was discovered by
William P. “Punch” Jones and his father, Grover C. Jones, Sr. while pitching horseshoes in April 1928. Believed to be simply a piece of shiny quartz common to the area, the stone was kept in a wooden cigar box inside a tool shed for fourteen years throughout the Great
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An alluvial diamond weighing 34.48 carats (6.896 g), largest to date found in North
America was discovered here in April 1928, by William P. "Punch" Jones and his father Grover C. Jones, Sr., while pitching horseshoes in the home yard of Mrs. and Mrs. Grover C. Jones. "Punch" was later killed in
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The text of the historical marker located in
Peterstown, West Virginia reads the following, although some of the information is outdated as Mr. and Mrs. Jones are no longer living or in possession of the diamond (see above):
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Depression. In 1942, Punch brought the stone to Roy J. Holden, a geology professor at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) – more commonly known as
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where it remained for many years for display and safekeeping. In
February 1964, the Jones family brought the diamond back and placed it in a
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auction house in New York to an agent representing a lawyer in an undisclosed east Asian country.
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combat during World War II. Mr. and Mrs. Grover C. Jones still retain ownership of the diamond.
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by members of the Jones family. It remains the largest alluvial diamond ever discovered in
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Diamonds in
Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Virginia Minerals
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of an inch (16 mm) across and possessed 12 diamond-shaped faces.
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The bluish-white diamond weighed 34.48 carats (6.896 g), measured
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186:(Radford, Va: Commonwealth Press, Inc., 1973) 122–124.
109:In 1984, the Joneses auctioned the diamond through
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184:Gleanings of Monroe County West Virginia History
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240:Diamonds originating in the United States
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151:Gemological Digest: Punch Jones Diamond
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200:Virginia Division of Mineral Resources
192:West Virginia Highway Markers Database
170:Virginia Division of Mineral Resources
117:West Virginia State Historical Marker
98:in the First Valley National Bank in
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157:, USA, Vol. 4, No. 11 (Fall 1944)
155:Gemological Institute of America
32:, was a 34.48 carat (6.896 g)
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179:, v. 42, n. 4, p. 33-40.
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245:Monroe County, West Virginia
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149:Shipley, Robert M. (1944)
220:Excerpt from 1973 article
26:The Grover Jones Diamond
92:Smithsonian Institution
55:Diamond Characteristics
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73:History of the diamond
250:1928 in West Virginia
168:"Virginia Diamonds,"
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30:The Horseshoe Diamond
20:, also known as the
235:Individual diamonds
182:Charles B. Motley,
175:Sweet, P.C., 1996,
22:Punch Jones Diamond
206:2009-01-15 at the
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138:List of diamonds
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229:Categories
100:Rich Creek
84:Blacksburg
41:Peterstown
111:Sotheby's
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104:Virginia
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