Fourteen-year old Tana Clymer of Oklahoma City found a 3.85-carat diamond at a park in Arkansas using her diamond vision. No, it was not part of someone’s lost engagement ring. Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only public diamond-producing site in the United States, and “discoveries” like Tana’s are not unheard of.
Assistant park superintendent Bill Henderson revealed that a yellow diamond of similar quality was also found at the state park back in March 2006. An Oklahoma State Trooper named Marvin Culver discovered the 4.21-carat canary diamond in the same place and named it “the Okie Dokie Diamond”. Another diamond weighing 5.16 carat was unearthed by a 12-year old North Carolina boy just last July. In fact, Tana’s teardrop-shaped, jellybean-sized prize is the 396th loose diamond found so far at the park this year.
Experts speculate that the amount of heavy rainfall in the past months could have contributed to the unearthing of hundreds of diamonds, making it easier for park visitors to discover them. Tana Clymer was on the search field with her family for about two hours when she saw the yellow diamond sitting near the surface. She initially thought it was a piece of candy wrapping.
The teenager named her discovery “God’s Jewel” and plans to either make it part of a ring, or have its value assessed to contribute to her college fund.
Diamonds are not the only stones being found by lucky visitors of the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Amethysts, garnets, jades, peridots, and other gemstones are also recorded discoveries. There have been over 75,000 diamonds unearthed at the park since 1906. The biggest one was found in 1924 and weighted 40.23 carats.