Special 4.38-Carat ‘Lemonade’ Diamond Accidentally Unearthed By Mine’s Visitors
Image via Arkansas State Parks
Noreen and Michael Wredberg were visiting national parks around the country when they decided to take a detour and stop by the Crater of Diamonds park in Arkansas, which is known for being the only state with a public diamond mine in the US.
The park states that more than 75,000 diamonds have been discovered at that site since 1906. This particular find was one of the 258 of the past year, and is the biggest yet.
Entry costs US$10, with optional additional charges for diamond-hunting tools. However, “finders keepers”: visitors can keep any gemstone they find.
Even if the gemstone is a 4.38-carat diamond.
Upon Michael’s suggestion, the couple had ventured out further into the middle of the field during their visit. His wife spotted something “clean and shiny” in the ground about 40 minutes later, and picked it up.
When they brought it to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center for identification, the staff informed them of their valuable find. Described as about the size of a jellybean, the diamond is pear-shaped and glistens in a light warm yellow color reminiscent of lemonade, according to the press release.
It had been raining for a few days prior to the discovery, which park interpreter Waymon Cox explains revealed the perfect conditions for the find.
“More than one inch of rain fell at the park between September 19 and 21. The soil had dried a little, and the sun was out when Mrs Wredberg visited two days later. She was in just the right place to see her diamond sparkle in the morning sunlight!”
The gem was wholesomely named Lucy’s Diamond, after Michael’s kitten. “Lucy is mostly gray but has slight tints of yellow in her fur, similar to the light yellow of my diamond,” Noreen explains.
[via The Independent, image via Arkansas State Parks]
Also check out these recent news
