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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Jack Pearadin is the first to admit that his diamond-hunting hobby hasn't paid off, despite sifting rocks for more than a dozen years.
But earlier this year, the Navy reservist and his friend shoveled a six-carat diamond from a field in Arkansas where he's found over 300 gems so far. And this one is like nothing he's dug up before -- Pearadin claims collectors have told him it could be worth $1 million.
At least one experienced appraiser told The Associated Press that a diamond of such size and quality could be worth a fourth of that -- still an impressive find.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Pearadin said as he livestreamed the discovery on TikTok. "Holy crap, we got a big one!" he yelled after rinsing gravel from a bucket and then flipping the pile onto a table to expose the shiny facets of a 6.03-carat diamond.
Roughly the size of a fingernail, it's the largest diamond found this year at Crater of Diamonds State Park. More than 37,000 diamonds have been discovered since the former open-pit diamond mine became part of a state park in 1972.
The largest diamond found at the park, 'Uncle Sam,' weighed 40 carats.
The park charges a $15 entry fee to fill a 5-gallon bucket with rocks, and people can keep any gemstones they find. Most are small and worth maybe a few hundred dollars. The largest diamond ever unearthed in the United States, a 40.23-carat stone called the Uncle Sam, was found at the park in 1924.
Most of the 400 to 800 diamonds found at the park annually weigh about a quarter of a carat, according to park interpreter Sarah Bivens. But there have been some bigger ones, said park assistant superintendent Waymon Cox: In 2020 a 9-carat diamond was found by an Arkansas bank manager.