It’s finders keepers for white, yellow, and brown diamonds at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park
Just last month, 14-year-old Tana Clymer found a beautiful, gem-quality canary yellow diamond while vacationing with her family at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. The stone, which Tana has named the God’s Jewel diamond, weighs in at 3.85 carats and is about the size and shape of a jellybean. Because cut plays a major factor in diamond value, the worth of Tana’s stone has not yet been established. But it certainly was an astounding find, and one which those of us in the jewelry business may envy!
About Crater of Diamonds State Park
Relatively few people realize that diamonds are just there for the taking in Arkansas. Once the site of a diamond mining operation, Crater of Diamonds State Park is now the only diamond-producing area in the world that is open to the public. Over 40 different rocks and minerals can be found in the park’s 37.5-acre search field, including white, brown, and yellow diamonds and gems like peridot, garnet, and amethyst. The field is regularly plowed by park staff to help bring up rocks and minerals, and anything park visitors find is theirs to keep. On average, two diamonds per day are discovered in the park, but most of these gems are small white diamonds that are actually too tiny to cut.
Notable American Diamond Finds
Tana’s diamond is a rare find for the park both because of its size and its color, but it is by no means unprecedented. Over 75,000 diamonds have been found at this site since its discovery in 1906, many of them famous. For example, the largest diamond ever to be found in the US came from this diamond field in 1924. Nicknamed the Uncle Sam diamond, it weighed 40.23 carats and was white with a pink cast. The largest diamond found by a park visitor was the Amarillo Starlight, a 16.37 carat white diamond unearthed in 1975. The Kahn Canary diamond was also found here. This flawless 4.25-carat gem has toured the world in jewelry exhibits alongside jewels from the Vatican and the Kremlin and been worn by First Lady Hillary Clinton. The most perfect diamond ever found in Crater of Diamonds is the Strawn-Wagner diamond. This flawless 3.03-carat white diamond was discovered in 1990, but it became truly notable only after being cut to perfection in 1997.
Found a Diamond in your Jewelry Box?
Not all of us are lucky enough to just find valuable diamonds lying around on the ground. But if you’ve found a diamond in your jewelry box that you want to sell, you can get an excellent price on it by taking it to the experts at Gems & Jewelry Inc. We’ll examine your stone carefully, name a fair price, and let you walk out with cash on a sale or pawn the very same day.
