Featured Image Credit: Instagram/arkansasstatepark/Tripadvisor
Topics: US News
Claire Reid
A seven-year-old girl found a 2.95 carat diamond in a state park in Arkansas.
Aspen Brown visited the appropriately-named Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro on 1 September with her dad and grandmother to celebrate her birthday.
And what a surprise birthday present that turned out to be.
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While out walking, Aspen decided she wanted to rest for a minute and that was when she made the discovery.
Her dad, Luther Brown, explained: “She got hot and wanted to sit down for a minute, so she walked over to some big rocks by the fence line. Next thing I know, she was running to me, saying ‘Dad! Dad! I found one!’”
He added: “There was no skill required for her to find it. She was just in the right place at the right time.”
Brown’s diamond is the second-largest found by a park guest this year, topped only by a 3.29-carat diamond discovered in March.
The diamond is also the first large diamond registered since the completion of an excavation project at the park last month.
Park superintendent Caleb Howell said: “A contracted company dug a 150-yard trench in August to help manage erosion on the north side of the search area.
“Several tons of unsearched diamond-bearing material were exposed and it’s very possible that this diamond and others were uncovered as a result. “
The family took the pea-sized gem to the Diamond Discovery Center to have their find identified and it was there that the park staff confirmed it was indeed a diamond.
Waymon Cox, assistant park superintendent said: “Aspen’s diamond has a golden-brown color and a sparkling luster. It is a complete crystal, with no broken facets and a small crevice on one side, created when the diamond was formed.
“It’s certainly one of the most beautiful diamonds I’ve seen in recent years.”
The Aspen Diamond was found close to where another large diamond, the 3.72-carat Caro Avenger, was discovered in 2019.
This year alone, 563 diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park, totaling more than 89 carats.
According to a press release from the park an average of one to two diamonds are found by visitors every single day.
In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been found at the Crater of Diamonds since the first diamonds were discovered by the farmer John Huddleston, who'd owned the land before it became a state park in 1972.