Man finds 6-carat diamond at famed Arkansas state park: 'We got a big one!'
Jack Pearadin with his 6.03-carat diamond found at Crater of Diamonds State Park (Arkansas State Parks)
A diamond-hunting enthusiast who moved to Arkansas just to be closer to the nation’s only public diamond mine has finally found his big rock.
After more than a dozen years of searching at Crater of Diamonds State Park, Jack Pearadin unearthed a 6.03-carat diamond – the largest one found so far this year at the famed state park.
Jack Pearadin’s ‘American Dream’ diamond
Pearadin, a Navy reservist originally from Missouri, has found more than 300 gems at the park since he started mining there in 2013. He even moved to the nearby town of Murfreesboro to be closer to the mine. He was livestreaming on TikTok when he dug up his latest find.
What they're saying:
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Pearadin said on the livestream.
"Holy crap, we got a big one!" he said as he pulled out a diamond roughly the size of a fingernail.
Pearadin named his big diamond the "American Dream."
"It’s just this massive, gorgeous yellow diamond," Pearadin said.
What's next:
He plans to split the profits with fellow gem hunter Michael Schumacher of Wisconsin, who helped dig the gravel that produced the stone, and open his own crystal mine.
Diamond-hunting at Crater of Diamonds State Park
The backstory:
Crater of Diamonds is a former open-pit diamond mine that became part of a state park in 1972. The park charges a $15 entry fee to fill a 5-gallon bucket with rocks, and people can keep any gems they find.
RELATED: Grieving woman finds 3.09-carat diamond at Arkansas park, calls discovery ‘meant to be’
By the numbers:
More than 37,000 diamonds have been discovered since the park opened to the public. Most of the 400 to 800 diamonds found each year weigh about a quarter of a carat. In 2020 a 9-carat diamond was found by an Arkansas bank manager, and in 2024 a French man unearthed a 7-carat diamond, park officials told AP.
Jack Pearadin's 6.03-carat diamond from Crater of Diamonds State Park (Arkansas State Parks)
The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States, a 40.23-carat stone called the Uncle Sam, was found at the park in 1924. The Uncle Sam crystal was cut and polished into a 12.42-carat diamond gifted to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where it’s on view in the "Great American Diamonds" exhibit.
The average .17-carat diamond from the park sells for about $700, certified gem appraiser Laura Stanley said. A luxury, 6-carat yellow diamond like the one Pearadin found can sell for about $250,000, though Pearadin said collectors have told him it could sell for up to $1 million.
Why is Crater of Diamonds State Park so unique?
Dig deeper:
Nathan Renfro, senior manager at the Gemological Institute of America, said the U.S. has only two known diamond deposits — Crater of Diamonds and Colorado’s Kelsey Lake, which is privately owned.
Crater of Diamonds is one of the only places on Earth where the public is allowed to search for diamonds and keep what they find.
"Most diamond mines are super high security," Renfro said.
The Source: This article includes information from The Associated Press and previous FOX Local reporting.