Record Diamond Found at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Record Diamond Found at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Bobbie Oskarson of Colorado with her diamond! Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks. The Esperanza Diamond. Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.

A diamond for the record books was found at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro! The find, an 8.52-carat white diamond, has been named the Esperanza Diamond by Bobbie Oskarson of Colorado, who made the diamond discovery on June 24, 2015. According to a state park news release, “the gem is the fifth largest diamond found by a park visitor since the state park was established at Arkansas’s diamond site in 1972. Twenty minutes into her search, she found the diamond in a couple scoops she had dug from a small mound of dirt. Oskarson was in the southwest corner of the park’s 37 ½-acre search field in an area known as the Pig Pen, aptly named because it is the muddiest part of the search area after a good rain. She named her gem the Esperanza Diamond, both her niece’s name and the Spanish word for “hope.” At this time, Oskarson plans to keep the gem.