Jack Pearadin is the first to acknowledge that his diamond-hunting passion has brought him more excitement than financial reward, even after more than 12 years of searching through Arkansas soil.
That changed earlier this year when Pearadin, a Navy reservist, and a friend uncovered a 6-carat diamond in a field at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Pearadin says he has recovered more than 300 gemstones at the site.
The stone stands apart from anything else he has found. Pearadin said collectors have suggested the diamond could be valued at as much as $1 million.
An experienced appraiser told The Associated Press that a diamond of that size and quality might instead be worth roughly $250,000 — still an extraordinary payday for a find made by hand.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Pearadin exclaimed while livestreaming the discovery on TikTok. After washing gravel from a bucket, he dumped the contents onto a table and spotted the bright facets of a 6.03-carat diamond. “Holy crap, we got a big one!” he shouted.
About the size of a fingernail, the gem is the largest diamond reported at Crater of Diamonds State Park so far this year.
More than 37,000 diamonds have been found since the former open-pit mine was converted into an Arkansas state park in 1972.
The largest diamond found at the park, ‘Uncle Sam,’ weighed 40 carats
For $15, visitors can search through rocks from a designated area and take home any gemstones they discover. The admission includes the chance to fill a 5-gallon bucket with material to examine.
Most of the diamonds found there are tiny and typically fetch only a few hundred dollars.
The park is also home to the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States: the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam, unearthed there in 1924.
Pearadin, who grew up in Missouri, first began searching the park in 2013. His enthusiasm eventually led him to move to nearby Murfreesboro so he could spend more time pursuing the hobby. “I love it that much,” he told The Associated Press. He has sold most of his discoveries online.
Park interpreter Sarah Bivens said between 400 and 800 diamonds are found at the site each year, with most weighing approximately a quarter of a carat.
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Larger discoveries do occasionally emerge. Park assistant superintendent Waymon Cox noted that an Arkansas bank manager found a 9-carat diamond in 2020, while a French visitor uncovered a 7-carat stone in 2024.
Diamonds are found in few places in the US
Diamonds form deep within Earth under intense heat and pressure. Volcanic activity carries them toward the surface, where natural forces such as water and wind can spread the stones across the surrounding landscape.
Uncut diamonds from the park are often cloudy and irregularly shaped. Nathan Renfro, a senior manager at the Gemological Institute of America, said cutting and polishing can reduce a stone’s weight by about 25% before it becomes a finished gem.
Renfro said the United States has only two known primary diamond deposits — locations where columns of once-molten volcanic rock reached the surface. One is Crater of Diamonds; the other is Colorado’s Kelsey Lake, where the land was reclaimed after a commercial mining venture closed.
That makes the Arkansas park one of the rare places in the world where the public can search for diamonds and keep whatever they find.
“It’s a pretty remarkable operation that that’s available to the public,” Renfro said. “Most diamond mines are super high security.”
So can Jack finally get a big payday?
Laura Stanley, a certified gem appraiser in Little Rock, said a typical 0.17-carat diamond from the park may sell for about $700.
A high-quality 6-carat yellow diamond could command approximately $250,000, Stanley said, with its unusual origin at Crater of Diamonds adding to its appeal and value.
“They are their own entity,” Stanley said. “It’s the only place in America where you can go find your own diamond and you can’t compare that to a diamond from anywhere else.”
The Uncle Sam crystal was cut and polished into a 12.42-carat diamond gifted to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where it’s on view in the “Great American Diamonds” exhibit.
Pearadin named his latest and biggest find the “American Dream.”
“It’s just this massive, gorgeous yellow diamond,” Pearadin said. He plans to split the profits with fellow gem hunter Michael Schumacher of Wisconsin, who helped fill the bucket that held the stone, and open his own crystal mine.
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