Tourist from New York finds a diamond the size of a human tooth

A New York visitor spent three focused weeks at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. On her final morning, she spotted a bright white diamond stone in the search field.

The rough gem weighed 2.3 carats, which is about the size of a human canine tooth. It is destined for an engagement ring.

The park allows anyone with a ticket and a bit of patience to search a 37.5 acre plowed field. The rule is simple: finders keep what they find.

It is one of the only places on Earth where the public can hunt for diamonds directly in their original volcanic source, an unusual policy confirmed by the state park.

Research on this volcanic field includes work by Dennis P. Dunn from University of Texas at Austin (UT).

Diamonds stones from volcanic rock

Visitors walk the eroded top of an ancient volcanic feature called a volcanic pipe. It is here that diamonds weather out of the soft clay and sit on the surface after rains.

Staff periodically plow the field to loosen soil, and they identify and register finds for the public.

The field sits over the Prairie Creek intrusion, part of a cluster of small igneous bodies that punched upward during the Cretaceous Period.

The larger subsurface body is roughly 83 acres, a detail summarized in an Arkansas Geological Survey brochure.

The visitor, Micherre Fox of Manhattan, said she set out to find a diamond for her own ring.

She put in long hours throughout the month and, on July 29 of 2025, her last day in the field, she noticed a shine that did not fade. She gently picked up the stone.

“I got really lucky and I worked hard,” she said. She advised others to stay “optimistic and bold,” even if it seems naïve. She named the gem the Fox Ballou Diamond and plans to mount it in her engagement ring.

From deep Earth to an Arkansas field

Diamonds form deep in the mantle – the hot, high pressure layer beneath Earth’s crust. They then ride buoyant magmas toward the surface.

At this site, the diamond-carrying rock is lamproite, a potassium-rich volcanic rock that can transport diamonds from depth to the near surface.

Geochemical work indicates the Prairie Creek lamproite was emplaced roughly 97 to 106 million years ago, and its chemistry points to very old mantle sources beneath the region. 

The rounded, metallic luster typical of diamonds found here reflects how crystals corrode slightly as they ascend and as weathering removes softer minerals around them.

When soils wash away after summer storms, fresh stones can appear on the surface without any digging at all.

The lamproite here is unusual in North America, since most diamond fields are associated with kimberlite. That difference helps scientists trace how different magmas sample and transport mantle materials during short-lived volcanic events.

How diamond stones become jewelry

A rough stone’s weight is expressed in carats, a metric unit that is equal to 0.2 grams. Cutters typically lose a significant fraction of weight while shaping and polishing a durable gem.

The carat standard is defined by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), which explains the unit and its use in grading systems on a GIA carat.

A 2.3 carat rough stone will finish smaller after cutting, depending on shape, inclusions, and how much must be removed to achieve a clean, bright result.

That outcome varies, so cutters map the interior with light or x-ray tools before they make a first saw cut.

The largest diamond ever found in the United States came from this Arkansas field in 1924. Known as Uncle Sam, the crystal weighed 40.23 carats.

It was later cut to 12.42 carats and added to the National Museum of Natural History’s collection.

Many visitors remember the Strawn-Wagner diamond, a 3.03 carat rough found in 1990 by a local resident. After cutting, the stone weighed 1.09 carats and earned top color and clarity grades, showing how a small, clean rough can become an exceptional finished gem.

Searching for diamond stones

Some hunt by surface walking after rain, scanning for a metallic shine and clean edges on a small, pebble-sized crystal. Others wash gravel in a screen to sort dense, heavy grains from light clay and sand until only a concentrate remains.

Park staff train visitors to recognize the look of raw stones and to avoid damaging them in the field. They remind guests that diamonds are very hard, but can still cleave along internal planes if struck in just the wrong way, so gentle handling is smart.

The clay-rich layers in the search area come from weathered volcanic ash and broken rock fragments that settled in a shallow, near-surface environment.

As those soft materials break down, heavy minerals, including diamond, resist alteration and remain behind.

Small differences in topography matter when you are walking the field. Slight depressions can gather gravel after rains. Minor ridges can expose fresh material where winds and water shave off thin layers of loose soil.

Why this story resonates

People connect with finds like this because the rules feel fair and the field is open to everyone. The price of entry is time, attention, and care, and the same rules apply whether you are a first timer or a regular.

The science adds something deeper, since each stone records a trip from deep mantle conditions to a quiet field in southwest Arkansas.

A find like this links personal effort to the deep time of our planet in a way that is both straightforward and satisfying.

Information from an Arkansas State Parks online press release.

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