Sometimes the most remarkable diamond stories don’t begin in a jewelry store — they start at the bottom of a swimming pool and end, improbably, lodged in the sole of a shoe.
That was the case for a 1.3-carat diamond that spent months wedged inside the circular indentation of a pair of Lands’ End water shoes worn by a Pennsylvania playwright and writing instructor known simply as Coleman.
The discovery happened in February during a trip to Florida. After a day by the pool in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Coleman removed his water shoes and noticed something sparkling on the bottom.
“Look,” he told a friend, according to his personal website. “A gem.”
At first, he assumed it was nothing more than a piece of decorative glass — the kind of plastic “bedazzle” that turns up just about anywhere. But a visit to a Fort Lauderdale jeweler revealed a surprise: the stone was a genuine diamond, likely dating to the 1950s or 1960s and featuring what the jeweler described as an “old-fashioned cut.”
The find sparked Coleman’s imagination. He briefly considered having the stone set into a necklace for his grand-stepdaughter as a future graduation gift. Instead, he decided to share the unusual story on Facebook, posting a photo of what he jokingly called the “diamond on the sole of my shoe — thank you, Paul Simon.”
The musical reference was to Paul Simon’s 1986 hit “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” the fifth track from the landmark Graceland album. Frequently ranked among the greatest albums of all time, Graceland earned the 1987 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Coleman’s post quickly turned his quirky discovery into a community mystery — and then, almost immediately, into a reunion.
Within minutes, neighbors from his Chester County, PA, community began reaching out with tips. One comment read, “I think I know who the diamond belongs to.” Soon after, his phone rang. On the other end was Cindy Ware.
“Hello,” she said. “I think you have my diamond.”
Ware had lost the stone in December while exercising at the community pool. The diamond, a cherished family heirloom from her late husband’s ring, had vanished without a trace.
“A diamond in a swimming pool to be found at all is impossible,” she told NBC10 Philadelphia.
The explanation was almost as unlikely as the discovery. Coleman regularly plays water volleyball in the same pool — wearing those same water shoes.
At some point, the loose diamond settled into one of the shoe’s small circular indentations, which turned out to be uncannily close to the stone’s exact size. Protected by the snug fit, the gem remained lodged in place for months — through repeated pool use, a trip to Florida and countless steps on beach and pavement.
“I assumed I picked it up in Florida,” Coleman told NBC10. “Went down there, wore them, wore them on the beach, to the pool.”
When the diamond was finally returned, Ware could hardly believe it. Coleman, meanwhile, was simply happy to help restore a piece of family history.
“To be able to add even a little bit more happiness there,” he told NBC10 Philadelphia, “well, that’s really swell.”
Credit: Conceptual image by The Jeweler Blog, generated by aichatapp.ai.