Woman thought gem found in Arkansas was ‘too big to be a diamond.’ She was wrong

On a family trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, an Oklahoma woman spotted an “unusual oblong, shiny stone.”

Though there are diamonds to be had throughout the Murfreesboro state park, Raynae Madison thought the “chocolate brown” gem she found Sept. 13 was “too big to be a diamond.”

Her instincts weren’t off base, as only two diamonds larger than her discovery have been found all year at the park, officials said.

“At first I thought it looked really neat, but I wasn’t sure what it was,” she said in a Sept. 22 news release from Arkansas State Parks.

Upon further examination, park officials confirmed the find was a 2.79-carat brown diamond.

Madison visited the park while celebrating her nephew’s birthday. Now, she has named the gem the William Diamond in honor of her nephew.

Equipped with a “beach digging kit and sand sifting tools” they purchased at a dollar store, the family made the discovery on the north side of the 37.5-acre area of the park where visitors can search for diamonds.

Park officials said the diamond featured “unique inclusions.” It became the fourth diamond found at the park this year that has weighed more than 2 carats.

“Brown diamonds from the Crater occur due to a process called plastic deformation, which creates structural defects during a diamond’s formation or movement in magma,” Emma O’Neal, park interpreter at Crater of Diamonds State Park, said in the news release. “These defects reflect red and green light, combining to make the diamond appear brown.”

The diamond is now Madison’s, as visitors are allowed to keep what they find at the park. More than 400 diamonds have been registered this year at the park, officials said.

Murfreesboro is about a 110-mile drive southwest from Little Rock.