Tana Clymer, a lucky 14-year-old girl from Oklahoma, is taking home quite the souvenir from her recent trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas: a 3.85-carat jellybean-size, teardrop-shaped, yellow diamond.
The teen said she had been digging and sifting through dirt in the 37-acre park for about two hours when something caught her eye.
“I thought it was a piece of paper or foil from a candy wrapper,” Tana said, according to the Arkansas State Parks website. But soon she noticed it was something else.
“This canary diamond is very similar to the gem-quality, 4.21-carat canary diamond found at the Crater of Diamonds by Oklahoma State Trooper Marvin Culver of Nowata, Oklahoma, on March 12, 2006, a gem he named the Okie Dokie Diamond,” said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent.
The girl named the rock “God’s Jewel,” which is the 396th precious rock found so far this year at the park. Other gems discovered at the state park include amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite, and quartz.
Her finding comes only two months after 12-year-old Michael Dettlaff found a 5.16-carat honey-brown diamond in the same park.
More than 75,000 diamonds have been found at the properly named park since 1906, where visitors are allowed to keep their discoveries.
The largest diamond ever found in the U.S., the 40.23-carat “Uncle Sam,” was unearthed there in 1927.
Images courtesy of the State Parks of Arkansas