MURFREESBORO, Ark. — According to Arkansas State Parks, a 3.29 carat diamond was found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Pat and John Choate traveled to Murfreesboro from Jacksonville on Tuesday to dig for diamonds, which they've done many times before. The couple is originally from the Murfreesboro area and has found five diamonds throughout the years.
However, they've never made a discovery as big as the one they made Tuesday.
“Each time Pat and I see the road sign for the Crater of Diamonds while driving to the park, we always tell each other, ‘Let’s be like some of these other tourists and find a diamond within 30 minutes.’ We’ve been saying that for years, but this time it actually happened to us!" John Choate said.
The couple entered the park around 2 p.m. Pat was surface searching in the southwest part of the park for about 30 minutes when she found the diamond.
“I saw something shiny several feet ahead of me and walked over to see what it was. I lost sight of it when I got close, but then I turned around I found the diamond lying beside me!” she said.
Pat said she immediately knew it was a diamond and showed it to a few nearby visitors before putting it in a pill bottle to show her husband.
The park's Diamond Discovery Center registered the diamond as a brown diamond, weighing 3.29 carats.
According the park officials, the diamond is about the size of a chickpea and contains inclusions, making it a unique diamond.
The diamond is the third-largest one that's been found at the park in 2019. It's the largest brown diamond that's been found in two years.
Choate decided to name her diamond "Illusive Dream" and plans on keeping the gem as a reminder of the memories she and her husband have made during their visits to the Crater of Diamonds.