TheJones Diamond, also known as thePunch Jones Diamond,The Grover Jones Diamond, orThe Horseshoe Diamond, was a 34.48 carat (6.896 g)alluvialdiamond found inPeterstown,West Virginia by members of the Jones family. It remains the largest alluvial diamond ever discovered inNorth America.
The bluish-white diamond weighed 34.48 carats (6.896 g), measured5⁄8 of an inch (16 mm) across and possessed 12 diamond-shaped faces.
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 Depression. In 1942, Punch brought the stone to Roy J. Holden, a geology professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) – more commonly known asVirginia Tech – in nearbyBlacksburg,Virginia. Holden, shocked at Punch's discovery, authenticated the diamond and the diamond was sent to theSmithsonian Institution where it remained for many years for display and safekeeping. In February 1964, the Jones family brought the diamond back and placed it in asafe deposit box in the First Valley National Bank inRich Creek,Virginia.
In 1984, the Joneses auctioned the diamond throughSotheby's auction house in New York to an agent representing a lawyer in an undisclosed east Asian country.
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of the historical marker located in Peterstown, West Virginia reads the following, although some of the information is outdated as Mr.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):
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 Mr. and Mrs. Grover C. Jones. "Punch" was later killed in combat during World War II. Mr. and Mrs. Grover C. Jones still retain ownership of the diamond.