At the Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park, a 14-year-old girl from Oklahoma City unearthed a 3.85-carat diamond over the weekend.
Tana Clymer discovered the canary gem Saturday at the park, which is the only diamond-producing site in the United States that is open to the public. Tana said she'd been digging in the dirt for about two hours when she discovered the gem on the surface of the search field.
The yellow diamond is teardrop-shaped and about the size of a jellybean.
“This canary diamond is very similar to the gem-quality, 4.21-carat canary diamondfound at the Crater of Diamonds by Oklahoma State Trooper Marvin Culver of Nowata, Oklahoma, on March 12, 2006, a gem he named the Okie Dokie Diamond,” said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent.
Tana named the diamond “God’s Jewel,” park officials said.
“Tana told me that she was so excited, she couldn’t sleep last night,” Henderson said Sunday. “She’s either going to keep the diamond for a ring, or, if it’s worth a lot, she'll want that for college.”
Many diamonds have been found close to the surface so far this year, Henderson said, noting that heavy rainfall pushes dirt away, leaving the diamond exposed.
Her gem is the 396th diamond found so far this year at the park in southern Arkansas. Other gems discovered at the state park include amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite, and quartz.
Tana said on Tuesday that she’s planning to sell the diamond and use the money to go to college.
She told WTSP that she was about to leave the park after digging for two hours but something the size of a jelly bean caught her eye.
“I thought it was a piece of paper or foil from a candy wrapper,” she said. “Then, when I touched it, I thought it was a marble. I think God pointed me to it. I was about to sprint to join my family, and God told me to slow down and look. Then, I found the diamond!”
According to one of the park employees, the diamond could be worth anywhere from $15,000 to $60,000.
Amanda Giordano, Tana’s mother, told NewsOK that she had been begging her husband Brian to take the family to a park for years. He read about a boy finding a 5.15-carat diamond in July and decided they should go during the fall break.
Once Tara found the diamond, she started screaming.
“She screamed at me, ‘Mama, mama I found something.'” Amanda Giordano said.
More than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at the park since the first ones were found in 1906. The site became a state park in 1972.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
