Jack Pearadin openly acknowledges that his diamond-seeking hobby hasn’t exactly brought him fortune after over twelve years of searching. Yet, earlier this year, the Navy reservist struck gold—well, diamond—when he and a friend unearthed a six-carat gem from a site in Arkansas known for yielding over 300 stones to Pearadin.
This particular find, he claims, is unprecedented for him; some collectors have hinted it could fetch up to $1 million. That’s quite a stretch, but still, it’s exciting!
One experienced appraiser mentioned to The Associated Press that even a diamond of that size and quality might be appraised at a quarter of the initial estimate—a noteworthy discovery nonetheless.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Pearadin exclaimed as he shared the moment on TikTok. “Holy crap, we got a big one!” His excitement peaked after rinsing gravel from a bucket and revealing the shiny facets of a 6.03-carat diamond.
About the size of a fingernail, it stands out as the largest diamond found this year in Crater of Diamonds State Park. Since the park transitioned from an open-pit mine to a state park in 1972, more than 37,000 diamonds have been discovered.
The largest diamond found at the park, ‘Uncle Sam,’ weighed 40 carats
The entry fee for the park is $15, which allows visitors to fill a 5-gallon bucket with dirt, keeping any gems they find. However, most treasures are small and valued at just a few hundred dollars.
The park boasts the largest diamond ever discovered in the U.S., weighing in at 40.23 carats, known as Uncle Sam, unearthed back in 1924.
Pearadin, who hails from Missouri, has been venturing to the park since 2013, even relocating to nearby Murfreesboro to indulge in his passion, saying, “I love it that much.” He’s sold a majority of his discovered diamonds online.
An average of 400 to 800 diamonds are found at the park each year, and interestingly, most are only about a quarter of a carat, according to park interpreter Sarah Bivens. But larger diamonds have been found, including a 9-carat one in 2020 and a 7-carat stone unearthed by a visitor from France in 2024.
Diamonds are found in few places in the US
Diamonds form under immense pressure and heat deep within the Earth and are later brought to the surface through volcanic activity, only to be scattered by water or wind over time. These natural diamonds often appear cloudy and irregularly shaped and typically lose around 25% of their weight during the cutting and polishing process, as noted by Nathan Renfro, senior manager at the Gemological Institute of America.
Interestingly, the U.S. has only two principal diamond deposits, with Crater of Diamonds and Colorado’s Kelsey Lake being the primary locations, the latter being reclaimed after a mining operation ceased years ago.
This makes the Arkansas park one of the few places globally where anyone can hunt for diamonds and keep their finds. “It’s a pretty remarkable operation that’s available to the public,” Renfro said, noting that most diamond mines have tight security.
So can Jack finally get a big payday?
Typically, a .17-carat diamond from the park sells for around $700, according to certified gem appraiser Laura Stanley in Little Rock. However, a six-carat yellow diamond of high quality can sell for about $250,000, largely due to its unique origin.
“They are their own entity,” Stanley explained. “It’s the only place in America where you can go find your own diamond, and you can’t compare that to a diamond from anywhere else.”
The famous Uncle Sam crystal was cut and polished into a 12.42-carat diamond, which has since been gifted to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where it can be seen in the “Great American Diamonds” exhibit.
Pearadin has dubbed his latest and most significant find the “American Dream.” “It’s just this massive, gorgeous yellow diamond,” he expressed, revealing plans to share the profits with fellow gem hunter Michael Schumacher from Wisconsin, who helped collect the gravel containing the precious stone, and eventually open his own crystal mine.
