Sparkling find! Dad and son find 2 ct diamond at Arkansas state park
It is the 412th diamond registered at the park this year and the 36,500th diamond registered since it became Arkansas State Park in 1972
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An Arizona father and son discovered a 2ct diamond at the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park while on a summer road trip.
Will and Marshall Barnett made the discovery on July 27 after entering the park’s 37.5 diamond search area, a field sitting on top of a formerly diamond-bearing volcano.
They filled their bucks with dirt from the field and went to the park’s wash pavilion to look for their diamonds.
As the pair sifted through the dirt at their washing stations, Will, the boy’s father, called his son over to him.
“Hey, Marshall, you should take a look at this,” he said.
After taking the rock to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, staff confirmed that the two had found a large 2ct diamond.
“You could tell they knew they had found something special from the smiles on their faces,” Ashlyn Keys, the park’s interpreter, told the outlet.
The diamond is rectangular in shape, about the size of a pencil eraser with a light brown color resembling iced tea, the park said in the release.
The Park’s Superintendent Caleb Howell confirmed the diamond’s condition.
“The first thing I noticed was two large facets that really shined when the light hit them just right,” Howell said.
Park visitors can name the diamonds they find at the park. The father and son choose to name it the “Minor Find” in reference to the boy’s age and status as a “minor-miner”.
The park has a finders-keeper rule, meaning people who find diamonds at the park are allowed to keep them.
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