Aspen Brown was celebrating her 7th birthday with her dad and grandma when she made the discovery of a lifetime: a 2.95-carat diamond. She chose to spend her special day at Crater of Diamonds State Park, a protected area in southwestern Arkansas. She found the gem in the park’s 37-acre diamond search area, where guests are encouraged to hunt for jewels and take them home.
“Next thing I know, she was running to me, saying, ‘Dad! Dad! I found one!’” he says in a statement from the park.
She returned to her family holding a stone about the size of a green pea. Park staff confirmed it was indeed a diamond—one with a “golden-brown color and a sparkling luster,” says Waymon Cox, assistant park superintendent, in a statement.
“It’s certainly one of the most beautiful diamonds I’ve seen in recent years,” he adds.
Her good luck may have had something to do with recent construction work within the park. In August, workers dug a 150-yard trench on the north side of the search area to help manage erosion. In the process, they turned over several tons of unsearched dirt, which could have brought Brown’s gem to the surface, according to the park.
Shealyn Sowers, a spokesperson for Arkansas State Parks says that she doesn’t know the estimated value of the newly discovered diamond. On average, fortune-seekers find one to two (much smaller) diamonds each day, according to the park. All told, visitors have uncovered more than 560 diamonds so far this year.
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