A local couple recently discovered a 2.44 carat diamond while digging at the Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro in Pike County, Arkansas. The pair, Melissa and Kenny Oliver, are regulars of the park, which is open to the public and for a fee allows visitors to dig for diamonds and other gemstones, which if discovered, they are allowed to keep.
Which means the Oliver’s will be going home with the over 2 carat diamond, which park officials say appears to be flawless.
The park, which was founded in 1906, is a 911 acre plot of land set over an eroded lamphorite volcanic pipe, and on which sits a 37.5 acre crater that is plowed regularly to bring the diamonds and gemstones to the surface. An average of 600 diamonds are found each year of all colors and grades, 96 have been discovered in 2011 alone, with four in March weighing over a carat each.
Many notable diamonds have been found in the park over the years, including a diamond known as “Uncle Sam;” weighing 40.23 carats it is the largest diamond ever to be discovered in North America. There was also a 17.86 Canary Yellow diamond found in 1917, which now resides in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, as well as a 34.25 carat diamond known as the “Star of Murfreesboro,” found in 1964.
Due to the presence of last weekend’s “super moon” the Oliver’s began searching for like-minded names for their discovery, but since the Supermoon Diamond didn’t seem to fit, the 2.44 diamond find is now named the Silver Moon Diamond.