This 3.29-carat brown diamond was found in Crater of Diamond State Park in Arkansas, officials said.
Arkansas State Parks
David Anderson was searching through wet-sifted gravel at an Arkansas state park when a gemstone caught his eye.
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“At first I thought it was quartz but wondered why it was so shiny,” Anderson told officials with Crater of Diamonds State Park. “Once I picked it up, I realized it was a diamond!”
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More specifically, it was a 3.29-carat brown diamond he had discovered during one of his regular visits to the park on Saturday, March 4, according to a news release.
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This is the largest diamond found at the state park — “one of the only places in the world where the public can search for real diamonds in their original volcanic source” — since September 2021, officials said. It’s also the largest brown diamond found at Crater of Diamonds State Park since Labor Day 2020.
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Searchers who discover diamonds in the park often name their finds, and Anderson was no exception.
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He has named it B.U.D. — “that’s for Big, Ugly Diamond,” according to the release. It’s aptly named for its size, pitted surface and brown coloring.
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“Mr. Anderson’s diamond is about the size of an English pea, with a light brown color and octahedron shape,” park interpreter Tayler Markham said in the release. “It has a metallic shine typical of all diamonds found at the park, with a partially resorbed surface and lots of inclusions.”
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Anderson, of Murfreesboro, plans to sell the diamond, as he often does with diamonds he finds at the park.
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Since he first visited the park in 2007 after hearing about it on the Travel Channel, he’s found more than 400 diamonds, officials said. His top finds include a 3.83-carat yellow diamond from 2011 and a 6.19-carat white gem from 2014.
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“After I found my first diamond, a 1.5-carat white, I was hooked,” he said.
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On average, park visitors find about one to two diamonds each day as they search through a 37.5-acre plowed field, “the eroded surface of an ancient, diamond-bearing volcanic crater.”
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More than 35,000 diamonds have been found since 1972.
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Crater of Diamonds State Park is in Murfreesboro, part of southwest Arkansas.
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