For those of you addicted to digging for diamonds or panning for gold at various tourist attractions, here’s your answer to friends and family members who mock your belief in instant riches.
Last month, Noreen Wredberg of Granite Bay, California, beat the odds by picking up a 4.38 carat yellow diamond in an Arkansas State Park called, to no one’s surprise, Crater of Diamonds State Park. She told USA Today that “I didn’t know it was a diamond then, but it was clean and shiny, so I picked it up… We really didn’t think we would find one, let alone something that big!”
And she’s not alone, so you prospective prospectors can start packing your bags. It’s been a keep-what-you-find state park since 1972, and a source of diamonds since 1906. State officials say an average of one to two a day are found, but few and far between as big as Wredberg’s find, worth up to $15,330 if properly cut.
While it’s this year’s largest, it’s not the champion; the biggest was 40.23 carats, found in 1924; the largest since the eroded volcanic crater became a park is a 9.07-carat speciment found found last year.
