Jack Pearadin says he flipped a pile of washed gravel and exposed a 6.03‑carat diamond on a TikTok livestream at Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park. “Oh my God! … Holy crap, we got a big one!” he shouted on video, according to reporting adapted from the Associated Press. The stone—roughly the size of a fingernail—was described as the largest diamond found at the park so far this year.
The price debate
Pearadin, a Navy reservist who has hunted diamonds for more than a decade, told the AP that collectors said the gem could be worth $1 million. Certified gem appraiser Laura Stanley of Little Rock told the AP that a high‑quality six‑carat yellow diamond from the park can sell for about $250,000, noting that origin can boost value. At least one experienced appraiser also told the AP that a diamond of such size and quality could be worth about a quarter of $1 million.
Inside the find
Pearadin has searched the park since 2013 and said he has found more than 300 gems. He named this stone the “American Dream” and said he plans to split any profits with fellow gem hunter Michael Schumacher of Wisconsin, who helped fill the bucket that held the stone.
How rare is this?
Park interpreter Sarah Bivens said most of the 400 to 800 diamonds found there each year weigh about a quarter carat. Park assistant superintendent Waymon Cox noted bigger recent finds: a 9‑carat diamond in 2020 and a 7‑carat diamond in 2024.
What makes this park different
More than 37,000 diamonds have been discovered since the site became a state park in 1972, according to the AP. The AP reported the park charges a $15 entry fee and allows visitors to keep any gemstones they find. Nathan Renfro of the Gemological Institute of America said the United States has only two known primary diamond deposits—Crater of Diamonds and Colorado’s Kelsey Lake—and called Arkansas’s public access “remarkable,” since most diamond mines have tight security. Renfro added that rough stones typically lose about 25% of their weight when cut and polished and that natural diamonds from such deposits are often cloudy and irregular.
Perspective from history
The largest diamond ever found in the United States, the 40.23‑carat “Uncle Sam,” was unearthed at the same site in 1924. Cut to 12.42 carats, it is on display at the Smithsonian’s “Great American Diamonds” exhibit, the AP reported.
