1.73-carat diamond found at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Two regular visitors on Sunday (Dec. 11) found a 1.73-carat diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro.

The finders, Jack Pearadin of Murfreesboro and Doug Nelsen of Winneconne, Wis., had been searching together at the park for almost a year, according to a press release from Arkansas State Parks.

The pea-sized white gemstone with a brownish tent is the third-largest diamond found at the park this year and the largest of 36 diamonds found by Pearadin since he began searching the mine three years ago, according to the release. His previous largest diamond was 0.87 carats.

Nelson also found a 0.22-carat diamond Sunday, and he previously found four other diamonds, with the largest before now weighing 0.29 carats.

As is tradition for finders of diamonds at the park, Pearadin and Nelsen named their diamond, calling it Kaleidoscope Diamond, because of the various colors seen in the stone.

This is the 484th diamond registered at the park this year, surpassing last year’s total of 467 diamonds. This year, 16 diamonds certified by park staff have weighed over 1 carat each, according to the press release.

The largest diamond ever found at Crater of Diamonds was a 16.37-carat stone discovered in 1975. Visitors have registered more than 32,000 diamonds since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas State Park in 1972, according to the park.