MURFREESBORO (KFSM) — Two regular visitors of Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park discovered the third-largest diamond found at the park in 2016 on Sunday (Dec. 11).
Jack Pearadin and Doug Nelsen had been searching the field on and off for nearly a year when they found a 1.73 carat white diamond.
Park interpreter Betty Coors said Pearadin first saw the diamond while in the mining process of washing gravel.
“He poked Nelson and told him simply that he needed to look at this,” Coors said.
The pea-sized white gemstone is Pearadin’s 36th diamond and the largest of his finds at the park since he began his search for diamonds over three years ago. Nelsen had previously found four other diamonds and he found a 22 point white diamond the same day as the 1.73 carat diamond.
The park has registered 484 diamonds this year, surpassing last year’s total of 467 diamonds. Sixteen diamonds certified by park staff have weighed over one carat each.
