Man discovers ‘big, ugly’ 3.29-carat diamond at Arkansas state park: ‘It was so shiny’
Arkansas #Arkansas
A man discovered a 3.29-carat brown diamond at an Arkansas state park earlier this month, park officials said.
David Anderson found the gem in his wet-sifted gravel at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park on March 4, according to a park press release. His diamond is the largest diamond uncovered at the park since September 2021.
“At first I thought it was quartz but wondered why it was so shiny,” Anderson said in the park’s release. “Once I picked it up, I realized it was a diamond!”
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According to the Crater of Diamonds State Park website, the Crater of Diamonds is one of the only places in the world where the public can search for diamonds – and keep or sell the ones they find. Sitting outside Murfreesboro, Arkansas, the 37-acre field is an eroded surface of a volcanic crater. In addition to diamonds, minerals like amethyst, quartz and garnet naturally occur.
“Any rock or mineral you find is yours to keep,” the state park writes.
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Anderson, who has been a regular visitor of the park since 2007, has found more than 400 diamonds over the last 16 years, according to the park’s press release, and 15 of these diamonds have weighed over one carat. The largest diamond that he ever found was a 6.19-carat white gem in April 2014.
For the 3.29-carat diamond Anderson found on March 4, he decided to name the gem B.U.D. – for “Big, Ugly Diamond.” He intends to sell B.U.D.
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Since 1906, more than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at the Crater of Diamonds, which became a state park in 1972. In the site’s history, the largest find was a 40.23-carat white diamond with a pink cast found in 1924, the park said.
An average of one or two diamonds are found by park visitors every day, according to the park. The three most common diamond colors found at the park are white, brown and yellow.
“Mr. Anderson’s diamond is about the size of an English pea, with a light brown color and octahedron shape,” park interpreter Tayler Markham said in a statement. “It has a metallic shine typical of all diamonds found at the park, with a partially resorbed surface and lots of inclusions.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Man discovers ‘big, ugly’ 3.29-carat diamond at Arkansas state park: ‘It was so shiny’