A visitor to Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park uncovered a remarkable gem: a 9.07-carat diamond.
The find makes it the second-largest diamond ever recorded at the park.
The discovery happened on Labor Day, according to a press release from Arkansas State Parks.
Kevin Kinard, a 33-year-old bank branch manager from Maumelle, Ark., said he first assumed the marble-sized crystal was just glass.
“It kind of looked interesting and shiny, so I put it in my bag and kept searching,” Kinard recalled. “I just thought it might’ve been glass.”
He later brought the stone to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where staff inspect finds and register diamonds.
Park staff identified the crystal as a 9.07-carat diamond.
“I honestly teared up when they told me,” Kinard said. “I was in complete shock!”
Kinard has visited the park many times, ever since a second-grade field trip.
On this outing, friends used tools to wet sift, while Kinard searched the surface.
“I only wet sifted for about 10 minutes before I started walking up and down the plowed rows,” Kinard explained. “Anything that looked like a crystal, I picked it up and put it in my bag.”
After several hours in the park’s 37.5-acre search area, the group stopped at the Discovery Center.
Kinard nearly skipped having his finds checked, but a friend’s check convinced him to go ahead.
“I almost didn’t have them check my finds, because I didn’t think I had found anything,” he said. “My friend had hers checked, though, so I went ahead and had them check mine, too.”
Park staff and managers examined the crystal.
Assistant Superintendent Dru Edmonds described it as “very large, with a brandy brown color,” noting its “rounded, dewdrop shape and a metallic shine.”
Officials said this gem is the second-largest discovered at the park since it opened in 1972.
The largest was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, found in August 1975.
Park representatives did not provide an exact valuation of Kinard’s find.
They noted a 3.03-carat white diamond found in 1990 was cut to 1.09 carats and sold in 1998 for $34,700, suggesting Kinard’s diamond could be worth substantially more.
“Congratulations to Mr. Kinard on finding this impressive diamond – the second-largest found at the park since 1972,” said Stacy Hurst, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
Park Superintendent Caleb Howell added, “When I met Mr. Kinard, it was immediately evident that he was shocked and speechless.”
Kinard registered his stone and named it the “Kinard Friendship Diamond”, honoring the friends who joined him that day.
He noted the find’s date and weight held special meaning.
“It weighs 9.07, and I found it on 9/7. I thought that was so unique!” he said. “[My friends and I] love to travel together and had such a great time out here. It was a very humbling experience.”
Kinard urged future visitors to have staff inspect suspicious stones.
“Have the park staff check everything because you never know. I would have never in a million years dreamed that I had found anything. Always have them check it!”