Save E-mail

Send this URL to a friend:

* - Denotes a required field.
Your Name*
Your Email Address*
Friend's Name*
Friend's Email Address*
Subject*
Message*

Print

Murfreesboro, Ark.--A 2.44-carat rough diamond discovered by an Arkansas couple that turned out to be worth nearly $22,000 ranks as one of the top discoveries last year at the Crater of Diamonds State Park here.

Found by Kenny and Melissa Oliver over a full moon weekend in March, the "Silver Moon" diamond was cut in late 2011 and has been appraised at $21,700, park interpretor Waymon Cox said.

Cox said the last time the park heard of one of its diamonds garnering such a high appraisal was in 2008, when a woman from Baton Rouge, La., found a 2.21-carat piece of rough that was cut into a 1.04-carat diamond and appraised for nearly $22,000.

While the "Silver Moon" grabbed headlines for its five-digit value, it wasn't the largest diamond unearthed at the Arkansas park in 2011.

According to a year-end wrap-up from the park, that honor goes to the 8.86-carat trapezoid-shaped rough diamond found by Beth Gilbertson of Salida, Colo. She dubbed the stone the “Illusion Diamond” because she thought at first that it was an illusion that she had unearthed a diamond. The Illusion is the third-largest diamond found at the Arkansas park since 1972.

A team including Daniel J. Kinney III of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and Thayer Walker of San Francisco found the year’s second-largest diamond, a 6.67-carat gem dubbed the “Teamwork Diamond” because a group of people were involved in unearthing it.

The year’s next two largest gems were very close in size. Murfreesboro resident Billy Moore found a 3.86-carat, heart-shaped rough diamond and named it the “Heart of Arkansas” in homage to his home state, while a 3.83-carat, pear-shaped yellow was unearthed in December by David Anderson of Murfreesboro. A native of Michigan, Anderson named his gem the “Wolverine Diamond” after the University of Michigan’s football team.

The 2.44-carat, cut to a little over 1 carat, "Silver Moon" was actually the fifth-largest diamond of 2011.

According to park officials, visitors registered 560 diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2011, down from 601 last year and 918 in 2009.