By: Laura Meyers
A woman in Arkansas dug up an 8.52 carat diamond over the weekend, no big deal.
Bobbie Oskarson, from Longmont, Colorado just discovered the fifth largest diamond found since 1972 at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park at Murfreesboro.
She had been digging around in the 37-acre field of plowed earth for only 20 minutes when she spotted what she thought might be a piece of quartz.
Park officials let her know that what she had discovered was indeed, a diamond.
Oskarson named the gem the “Esperanza Diamond” after her niece’s name and the Spanish word for “hope.”
Park interpreter, Waymon Cox, said the diamond is about three-quarters of an inch long and as big around as a standard No. 2 pencil.
The biggest diamond ever found at the park was 16.72 carats in 1975 and was valued at $150,000, and in today’s value that would be more than $600,000. The estimated value for the diamond tat Oskarson found could be around $300,000.
So it sounds like this girl probably had a good weekend.