A 12-year-old boy from Apex, North Carolina, was visiting Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park and discovered quite a unique treasure.
Move over dogs, diamonds just might be a boy’s best friend too. A 12-year-old boy from Apex, North Carolina, was visiting Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park and discovered quite a unique treasure.
Michael Dettlaff was on vacation with his family and at the park for less than 10 minutes when he saw the jellybean-sized 5.16-carat brown diamond, which he calls “God’s Glory Diamond.” He said, “I just thank God once again he could bless me with a great find.”
According to Park Interpreter Waymon Cox, “The gem is the 27th largest diamond found [by] a park visitor since Arkansas’ diamond site became a state park in 1972. It is the eighth-largest brown diamond that has been certified by park staff.”
Michael’s discovery is the 328th diamond unearthed so far this year and more than 75,000 diamonds have been discovered on park property since the first was found in 1906. The biggest diamond found in the U.S. was 40.23 carats and also found on this same land in 1924.
The park’s website states, “Unlike other diamond-bearing sites, our park policy is ‘finders, keepers.’”
