Man discovers 4.87-carat diamond at Arkansas state park
Jerry Evans visited a state park in Arkansas when he found a 4.87-carat diamond, the largest found at the park in three years. (Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks)
A man made an unbelievable discovery at a state park in Arkansas when he found a 4.87-carat diamond, the largest found on the grounds in three years.
Jerry Evans and his girlfriend were visiting Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, during the spring when he picked up what he thought was a piece of glass and put it in his pocket, according to an Arkansas State Parks release.
He was curious about the object and took it to the Gemological Institute of America to determine what it actually was.
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Image of the 4.87-carat diamond, the largest found at the park in three years. (Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks)
The organization responded to Evans' inquiry, informing him it was a near-colorless 4.87-carat diamond.
The jewel, which Jerry named the "Evans Diamond,"is roughly the size of a jellybean and is shaped like a pyramid. It's also the third-largest gem detected at the park since another man discovered a 9.07-carat brown diamond in 2020.
"I thought it might be a piece of glass, it was so clear. I really didn’t know," Evans said in the release. "We were picking up everything thinking it was a diamond."
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According to Arkansas State Parks, more than 75,000 diamonds have been found at the Crater of Diamonds since the first diamonds was discovered by John Huddleston, a farmer who owned the land long before it became a state park in 1972.
The agency added that approximately 798 diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2023, totaling over 125 carats. An average of one to two diamonds are found by park visitors daily.
This story was reported from Washington, D.C.