Whether she likes Disney Princesses or not, a 7-year-old girl was certainly celebrating her birthday like one after finding a 2.95-carat diamond on a hike in Arkansas.
Found in Crater of Diamonds State Park, located on the site of an extinct diamond volcano, it’s about the size of a green pea, golden brown in color, and without a single broken facet.
Aspen Brown and her father Luther went to the park in September for her birthday, several weeks after construction workers had dug out a 150-foot-long trench for infrastructure, which the Park Superintendent, Caleb Howell, said probably brought several tons of diamond-bearing material to the surface.
Dad Luther remembers the moment quite clearly, as it was a very warm day in the diamond search area.
“She (Aspen) got hot and wanted to sit down for a minute, so she walked over to some big rocks by the fence line,” Mr. Brown said according to a park statement. “Next thing I know, she was running to me, saying ‘Dad! Dad! I found one!’”
It’s the second-largest diamond found in the park this year, and was found close to where another large diamond, the 3.72-carat Caro Avenger, was discovered in 2019. The birthday girl decided to name it the “Aspen Diamond.”
A Google search for a diamond of that size in white shows they can cost anywhere from $12,000 to $50,000 polished and set.
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“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,” said Waymon Cox, assistant park superintendent. “It’s certainly one of the most beautiful diamonds I’ve seen in recent years.”
100 million years ago, a hotspot where pressures, temperatures, and materials mix in the perfect quantities to forge diamonds deep in the Earth’s mantle—the second layer of the planet below the crust—was forced to the surface through volcanism.
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Smithsonian Institute’s Sarah Kuta reports that precious stones found in the park include garnet, jasper, quartz, amethyst, and agate, as well as diamonds in three colors: yellow, brown, and white.
The Crater of Diamonds is the only safe place in the world where the public can prospect for diamonds and keep what they find. Around 89 carats in total have been found there.
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