Despite a rainstorm, Steven McCool decided to extend his stay at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas and it was, as he later put it, a “good decision.”
The father of two made an epic find while sifting through the dirt at the park with about a half-hour to spare before the park closed, KAIT8.com reported. He didn’t quite realize what he had found at first.
“As my eyes were panning to it, I was thinking it could be an amber piece of glass like an old Coke bottle,” he told the local TV station. “Once I focused on it though, I knew it was a diamond. And I was like, ‘No way! No way!’”
(Credit: Arkansas Dept. of Parks, Heritage and Tourism)
“Mr. McCool’s find is a 4.49-carat sparkling, canary yellow diamond that is about the size of a jellybean and seems to have great clarity. It is a stunning diamond,” Meghan Moore, the assistant superintendent of the park said in a release by Arkansas State Parks.
The park is one of the only locations in the world where the general public can search for diamonds – and the park’s official site states that “any rock or mineral you find is yours to keep.”
It was all treat, no trick this Halloween for Steven McCool of Fayetteville at Crater of Diamonds State Park. He found the third-largest diamond of the year. It’s a beaut! ????https://t.co/io7A2DcRiC #ARStateParks #Diamonds
— Arkansas State Parks (@ARStatePark) November 3, 2020
McCool’s diamond, though, is not the biggest to have been found at the park. The park’s site lists at least four bigger ones, including the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam, which holds the record for the largest diamond ever found in the United States.
A 9-carat diamond was found by another park visitor earlier this year, according to the park’s website.
McCool got to name the diamond and drew inspiration from something he considered “more precious” than the gem. Combining the initials of his children, McCool namd the gem the BamMam Diamond.
The BamMam Diamond’s fate hasn’t been decided, but McCool plans to return to the park for another diamond hunt, according to the press release.