Jewelry Factory Blog

Jewelry Factory Blog
April 16th, 2014
Tana Clymer, the vivacious Oklahoma teenager who unearthed a jelly bean-sized 3.85-carat canary yellow diamond at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park in October, recently sold the gem for $20,000. The bonanza will be used to help pay for college.

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Interestingly, Clymer and her family were thisclose to giving up their gem quest after having spent two fruitless hours sifting through soil and rocks. Then, the 14-year-old believes she was directed by a higher power.

“I think God pointed me to it,” the teenager told a reporter from local TV station KWTV. “I was about to sprint to join my family, and God told me to slow down and look.”

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At that moment, Clymer saw a reflective object on the surface of the ground. “I thought it was a foil candy wrapper,” she said. “Then, when I touched it I thought it was a marble.”

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It turned out to be a beautiful teardrop-shaped canary yellow diamond — the 396th diamond found at the park in 2013. Clymer could hardly believe her good luck and asked her father if she was dreaming. Clymer decided to name the gem “God’s Jewel.”

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The search area at the park is a 37 1/2-acre plowed field, which is actually the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater. It’s the only diamond-producing site in the world where amateur miners get to keep what they find. Clymer’s park admission cost a mere $7.

Since 1972, more than three million park visitors have tried their luck. Over that same time, the field has yielded more than 30,000 diamonds, and 900 of those weighed more than 1 carat.

The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed here in 1924 during an early mining operation. Named the Uncle Sam, the white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. Other notable finds from the Crater include the Star of Murfreesboro (34.25 carats) and the Star of Arkansas (15.33 carats).

The park staff provides free identification and registration of diamonds. Park interpretive programs and exhibits explain the site’s geology and history, and offer tips on recognizing diamonds in the rough.

The three most common diamond colors found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro are white, brown and yellow.  Other gems and minerals found in the park’s search area include amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite and quartz.