Arkansas Man Discovers Potential Million-Dollar Diamond
An Arkansas man believes he has discovered a diamond that could be worth a staggering one million dollars in a former open pit mine, now a state park, that has been around for over fifty years.
Jack Pearadin, who serves in the Navy reserves, was beginning to feel that his 13-year pursuit of diamond hunting was in vain. That changed when he and a friend unearthed a six-carat diamond while sifting through the ground at Crater of Diamonds State Park, situated about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock.
After washing the gravel from his bucket later in his workshop, he realized the 6.03-carat yellow gem might be worth significantly more than a million dollars, according to collectors he consulted.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Pearadin exclaimed during a live stream of the discovery on TikTok. “Holy crap, we got a big one!”
Roughly the size of a fingernail, this diamond is the largest one found in the park so far this year, as reported by ABC.
Each year, thousands of gem enthusiasts flock to this park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, paying a fee of $15 daily to fill buckets with gravel from the area. It’s interesting to note that the 37-acre field is actually the eroded surface of a volcanic crater, where various rocks and minerals, including amethysts, garnets, jaspers, agates, and quartz, can be found.
Since this area became a state park in 1972, more than 37,000 diamonds have been discovered, according to its official website.
Those who find gems are allowed to keep them, and while most diamonds found are small and valued at just a few hundred dollars, some truly stand out.
Notable diamonds from the park include the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam, which is the largest ever discovered in the U.S., among others. Pearadin has moved to Murfreesboro from Missouri just to indulge in this passion, saying, “I love it that much.”
Geologists explain that diamonds form under heat and pressure within the Earth and are later brought to the surface through volcanic activity, subsequently shaped by natural elements.
Typically, the diamonds found by hunters can be cloudy and irregularly shaped. Interestingly, they lose about a quarter of their weight when cut and polished into gems.
One famous diamond, the Uncle Sam crystal, was eventually cut and polished into a 12.42-carat piece, which now resides at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
A certified gem appraiser mentioned that Pearadin’s diamond would generally fetch around $250,000, which, while not quite a million, is still quite impressive.
Regardless of its final selling price, Pearadin plans to share the earnings with Michael Schumacher, a fellow gem hunter from Wisconsin who helped in the digging process. He even named the diamond “American Dream.”
