Louisiana Jeweler Plays Hide and Seek—With Diamonds

By Rob Bates | October 02, 2026

Chris Wisman, the owner of Diamond Wise, a custom jeweler based in Covington, La., has become an unlikely social media star with his weekly scavenger hunts for pricey diamond rings that he hides around New Orleans.

Since beginning the hunts one month ago, Wisman’s videos regularly receive thousands of views. He’s also been profiled in a local newspaper and on TV. “It’s insane the amount of news stations that are reaching out,” he tells JCK.

It all started with a deadbeat customer.

“We had this $4,000 ring that we made,” Wisman says. “Instead of re-inventorying it and melting it back down, we wanted to do something fun.”

That “something” turned out to be throwing it in the woods and letting whoever found it keep it—and then broadcasting the whole thing on social media.

For that first edition, Wisman stood in front of a local forest with the ring, holding up a diamond tester to prove it was real.

“This is a $4,000 ring we built for a customer,” he announced on Facebook and TikTok.

“She really pissed me off,” he continued. “I’m going to throw it. If you’re in Covington, Louisiana, you should know exactly where we’re at. So if you find it, it’s yours.”

Someone did find it, and (needless to say) kept it. The stunt proved so popular that the next week, Wisman did it again—this time in nearby Mandeville, La.

“Today, I have another scavenger hunt,” he declared, holding up a 2.59 ct. E VVS2 marquise (with no mounting). “We’re in Mandeville; you can obviously see where we’re at. We’re going to hide this diamond around one of the trees. You don’t have to climb, and you don’t have to dig. I’m not giving any more hints beyond that.”

That stone also was discovered quickly. For the third edition, he stashed a 3 ct. E VVS oval in a park in Abita Springs, La. That proved the most popular hunt to date, attracting some 200 to 300 foragers. Wisman tried to make that one more difficult, with a tougher hiding spot—though he made sure to warn his now-devoted following not to trash the park.

“It needs to be a challenge,” Wisman says, “but I also try to hide it in an accessible place. We try to keep it family-friendly so everyone will be able to reach it.”

At midnight, one steadfast searcher texted Wisman that he’d found the stone, some seven hours after it was hidden. In the follow-up video, Wisman thanked all the scavengers for leaving the park unscathed.

Wisman now wants to continue the tradition of holding scavenger hunts every Friday at 5 p.m., and says he has enough inventory to keep doing it through 2027.

“People love it,” he adds. “They say, ‘You got me out of the house. Me and my family have something to do on Friday night.’”

Once the stone is discovered, Wisman asks the finders to contact him through a phone number that’s accessible on social media. In all three hunts, someone has discovered the diamonds, and they all have contacted him. “The diamonds have paperwork,” he says. “That gives them an incentive to reach out to me. When they call me, they’re usually really excited.”

Of course, the hunt only works because he’s giving away something truly valuable—gems worth $2,000 to $6,000. (The diamonds have been both lab-grown and natural.)

“People get lost in the money aspect,” he says. “But really it’s just fun.” He also considers the giveaways a lot cheaper than traditional advertising.

And it seems to be working. “Just from the three videos, we’ve been blowing through the roof with sales,” he says. “It’s helped a lot.”