{"id":2992,"date":"2024-03-22T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T00:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?p=2992"},"modified":"2024-03-22T17:12:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T21:12:41","slug":"the-punch-jones-diamond-appalachias-hidden-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?p=2992","title":{"rendered":"The Punch Jones Diamond, Appalachia&#8217;s Hidden Gem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this captivating episode of Stories of Appalachia, we delve into the lucky discovery that forever altered the lives of a father and son in Monroe County, West Virginia. Join Steve Gilly and Rod Mullins as they recount the day in 1928 when a simple game of horseshoes unearthed a treasure that would remain hidden in plain sight for 15 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hear the tale of the Punch Jones Diamond, an alluvial gem weighing a staggering 34.48 carats, and its journey from an ordinary backyard to the record books as North America&#8217;s largest diamond of its kind. But riches and records aside, this story takes unexpected turns, from a World War II tragedy to a family&#8217;s unique claim to fame that even caught the eye of President Franklin Roosevelt.<\/p>\n<p>Discover the mystery of how the diamond ended up where it was, the theories that abound, and the legacy left behind by the Jones family. It&#8217;s an Appalachian story of luck, loss, and the twists of fate that can change fortunes overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t miss this glittering episode of the Stories podcast. Subscribe on Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h1m0LIHPY0I?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Thank you for listening and sharing our Appalachian stories with your friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Become a supporter of this podcast: https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/podcast\/stories-of-appalachia&#8211;5553692\/support.<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6408\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2992-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/59141967\/download.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/59141967\/download.mp3\">https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/59141967\/download.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/59141967\/download.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?powerpress_pinw=2992-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/59141967\/download.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"download.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?feed=podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><!--powerpress_player-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this captivating episode of Stories of Appalachia, we delve into the lucky discovery that forever altered the lives of a father and son in Monroe County, West Virginia. Join Steve Gilly and Rod Mullins as they recount the day in 1928 when a simple game of horseshoes unearthed a treasure that would remain hidden [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Ever heard of the Punch Jones Diamond? \ud83e\udd14 Join us on this episode as we journey through Appalachia and uncover the story of a father-son duo who stumbled upon a diamond while playing horseshoes. It's a tale of luck, history, and the unexpected! #AppalachianStories #PunchJonesDiamond #HistoricFinds","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[76,43,7,33,15,12],"tags":[111,112,126,116,114,124,122,113,117,125,123,119,121,118,115,120],"class_list":["post-2992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miracles","category-mysteries","category-oddities","category-the-1940s","category-the-great-depression","category-the-roaring-20s","tag-alluvialdiamond","tag-appalachianstories","tag-consecutivesonsrecord","tag-groverjones","tag-monroecounty","tag-newrivergeology","tag-northcarolinagemstones","tag-punchjonesdiamond","tag-richcreek","tag-ripleysbelieveitornot","tag-sedimentaryrockappalachia","tag-smithsonianinstitution","tag-sothebyauction","tag-virginiatech","tag-westvirginia","tag-worldwarii"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6TX4A-Mg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2992"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2995,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992\/revisions\/2995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}