Woman Finds 1.30-Carat Diamond in Park

[Brutuskend]

Woman Finds 1.30-Carat Diamond in Park
By Associated Press
Fri Sep 22, 2:10 AM

MURFREESBORO, Ark. - A Tennessee woman whose husband predicted she wouldn't have any luck gem hunting at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park made a sparkling discovery: a 1.30-carat diamond.

"I wasn't expecting to find anything and was just picking up pretty rocks," said Melissa Lacey of Knoxville.

At first, she thought the light yellow diamond was "a piece of dirty quartz." After it was identified by park staff, Lacey said she couldn't wait to show it to her husband.

The diamond was the size of a piece of candy corn. The largest diamond ever discovered in the U.S. was unearthed here in 1924. Named the Uncle Sam, the white diamond weighed 40.23 carats.

A freshly dug trench was opened to the public on Saturday. Soil from the trench was spread out over parts of the diamond field. Lacey found her diamond there Thursday.

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only publicly operated diamond site where the public is allowed to search and keep any gems found, regardless of their value.

 

[Sphexi]

Dang...lucky her, that's a nice find.

 

[Safeway]

1.3 carat pre-cut ... not worth too, too much.

 

[Slew Foot]

Im guessing thats a $5000 find?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Safeway
1.3 carat pre-cut ... not worth too, too much.

Yeah, and when they say "light yellow" are they talking about yellow diamonds that are worth like 10x what a white diamond is worth, or a white diamond with bad color?

Good for her though.

 

[jpeyton]

Light Yellow =! Fancy Yellow

1.30 Carats will probably translate to >.5 Carats cut, at best. We have no idea of the clarity of the resulting cut diamond either.

 

[Eli]

Wow!

That's awesome.

 

[d33pt]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Light Yellow =! Fancy Yellow

1.30 Carats will probably translate to >.5 Carats cut, at best. We have no idea of the clarity of the resulting cut diamond either.

who cares?!! it was free!

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Safeway
1.3 carat pre-cut ... not worth too, too much.

Yeah, the quality and clarity of the diamond determines everything. If it was yellow, it was probably infused with sulfur, making it low in value.