A little while ago, we here at NRA Family covered a fun family activity: Digging for diamonds at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park. At the time, we mentioned that there's a very real possibility that a visitor could find a gem worth even realer money. That's come true once more on Saturday, September 13. That was the day that a family from Oklahoma visited Crater of Diamonds State Park and unearthed a beautiful brown diamond weighing nearly three carats.
Once upon a time, the "preferred" diamond color was perfectly clear ... to the extent that many people didn't realize that diamonds can come in all kinds of colors. These days, chocolate-brown diamonds are very much in demand. The three most common colors found at Crater of Diamonds State Park are white, brown, and yellow, in that order.
But visitor Raynae Madison's family wasn't necessarily expecting to find a record-setting bit of bling when they came to Crater of Diamonds to celebrate her nephew's birthday. In fact, to prepare for their visit, the family bought a dollar-store beach digging kit. That's it! They then chose a spot to dig on the north side of the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area, near Prospector Trailhead.
After digging a few buckets, they were sifting dirt through their purchased screens when Madison noticed an unusual oblong, shiny stone. “At first I thought it looked really neat, but I wasn’t sure what it was,” she said. “I honestly thought it was too big to be a diamond!”
After showing her family, they took the stone to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where staff identified it as a diamond weighing 2.79 carats. The diamond is described as chocolate brown, with unique inclusions. “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," said Emma O'Neal, Park Interpreter at Crater of Diamonds State Park. "These defects reflect red and green light, combining to make the diamond appear brown.”
Many visitors choose to name the diamonds they find at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Madison chose to name her gem the William Diamond, in honor of her nephew.
The William Diamond is the third-largest diamond registered at the park this year, surpassing a 2.30-carat diamond found at the end of July. “2025 has been a great year for large diamond finds!" said O'Neal. "So far, we have registered four diamonds weighing over two-carats.” As of this publication, 403 diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park this year.
The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed in 1924 during an early mining operation on the land that later became Crater of Diamonds State Park. Named the Uncle Sam, this white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. It was later cut into a 12.42-carat emerald shape. The Uncle Sam is now part of the Smithsonian’s mineral and gem collection and can be seen at the National Museum of Natural History.
Would your family enjoy an adventure like this? Click here to learn more about Crater of Diamonds State Park!
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