A springer spaniel named Rosie has dug a $19,000, or about £12,000, worth "space diamond" for its lucky owner.
77 Diamonds, a London-based diamond retailer, launched an advertising campaign in the summer of 2014. The ad campaign involved a box that contained a 1.14 carat diamond (worth about $18,000) being attached to a weather balloon, which was supposed to be popped when it reached a certain height.
The diamond retailer said that it would give away the diamond to anyone who found it. The box contained a GPS unit to trace it, but it stopped working soon after it started its descent back to land. The weather balloon popped and the box containing the diamond landed on Earth but no one found it -- until now.
Allan Bell, 75, was the lucky man to get the space diamond just before Christmas. Bell said that he was walking his two dogs, Dylan and Rosie, along a country path in Brattleby, a small village in Lincolnshire, England. All of a sudden, Rosie ran under a hedge as if she had got a scent of something.
After about 10 minutes, the dog took out a packet that contained the precious diamond, once thought to have been lost forever. However, Bell did not open the packet immediately and left it on the road side to collect it later.
"I didn't fancy carrying it for the rest of the walk, so decided to leave it until we walked back along the road on our way home," said Bell.
He remembered to take the mysterious packet with him on his way back. A closer inspection of the packet made him realize what he had found.
Bell said that he knew about the lost diamond since reports appeared on TV news channels. He said that he kept his eyes in search of the lost diamond on his daily dog walks but was never able to find the diamond packet.
The dog owner called 77 Diamonds, which congratulated him on his diamond find.
Bell, a retired truck driver, said that he will sell the diamond and will go for a Mediterranean cruise with his wife to celebrate their silver anniversary. As for the dogs, Bell revealed that the pets will get a special treat.
