4.87-carat, nearly-colorless diamond found at Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas

UPI ^ | DEC. 20, 2023 / 1:49 PM | By Ben Hooper

[Red Badger]

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- An Arkansas man who visited Crater of Diamonds State Park for the first time later discovered what he thought was a clear piece of glass was a 4.87-carat diamond.

Jerry Evans of Lepanto said he had only been at the park in Murfreesboro when he picked up what he thought was a clear piece of glass and pocketed it.

"I thought it might be a piece of glass, it was so clear. I really didn't know," he told Arkansas State Parks officials. "We were picking up everything thinking it was a diamond."

A while after leaving the park, he decided to have the object examined by the Gemological Institute of America just to make sure.

A few weeks later he received word that what he thought was glass was actually a 4.87-carat diamond that was nearly completely colorless.

"When they called and told me it was real, I was tickled to death," Evans said.

He later contacted Crater of Diamonds State Park to register his find.

"While I get many emails from people wanting me to identify something they've found here, to my recollection, this is the first time someone has contacted me after they've had a diamond identified by the GIA," Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox said in a news release. "I'm glad that Mr. Evans was able to bring his historic diamond back to the park to have it officially registered."

Park officials said Evans' diamond was the largest found at the former mine since a 9.07-carat brown diamond was unearthed in 2020.

[Magnum44]

[Openurmind]

“He later contacted Crater of Diamonds State Park to register his find.”

Mistake...

[sauropod]

Road trip.

[MplsSteve]

I heard about this place about 20 years ago. Have always wanted to go for the day and do some digging.

Don’t expect to find much of anything but it might still be fun.

[CtBigPat]

Nice find!

[steve86]

Not a word about what it’s worth?

[Lazamataz]

“He later contacted Crater of Diamonds State Park to register his find.”

So, when does the Federal government seize the diamond?

[Red Badger]

After cutting and polishing I say roughly 5-10G’s.............

[Red Badger]

My neighbor went, spent all day found nothing but fun...............

[Openurmind]

“So, when does the Federal government seize the diamond?”

Yep, just like registering a gun. Now there will have to be a chain of custody trail.

When you do these things you are handing the government “stewardship” of the item.

[jpp113]

Yeah, 10% of it belongs to the “Big Guy”

[Jan_Sobieski]

Don’t expect to find much of anything but it might still be fun.

I took the fam down about 12 years ago. It pretty fun. You get sweaty and dirty and typically find quartz rather than diamonds, but it makes for memories!

[DCBryan1]

30 mins from my place! Neat park. NEVER disclose a find.

[DCBryan1]

Of course, you found the big diamond 366 days ago! Long term capital gains much more favorable ;)

[Sequoyah101]

I have continued to wonder for ages what could be found if some serious digging were to take place there instead of just recycling the same old dirt.

[Georgia Girl 2]

That park is on our bucket list too.

[NorthMountain]

Several entities tried to operate it as a commercial diamond mine ... unsuccessfully ... before it was deeded to the State to become a State Park.

[Political Junkie Too]

Unfortunately in the diamond industry, they are very concerned about ethical and conflict-free sourced diamonds.

Registering the diamond protects the finder from accusations that his was a so-called blood-diamond, either mined with child labor or sold to finance wars.

-PJ

[Flaming Conservative]

You get to keep what you find.