A seven-year-old girl found the perfect birthday gift when she discovered a 2.95-carat gold-brown diamond in Arkansas on September 1. Aspen Brown was celebrating her seventh birthday with her family at a state park when she found the gemstone about the size of a green pea.
According to a press release from the parkThe young girl’s discovery is “the second largest recorded by a park guest this year, trailing only a discovery of a 3.29 carat brown diamond in March.”
“Brown went to the park with her father and grandmother to celebrate her birthday,” the press release said. “Brown picked up a gemstone the size of a green pea from a trail along the northeast side of the search area.”
The park official confirmed that Brown had indeed discovered a diamond.
“The Aspen diamond has a golden brown color and a sparkling luster. It is a complete crystal, with no broken facets and a small crack on one side, created when the diamond was formed,” said Waymon Cox, assistant park superintendent, in the expense. “It is certainly one of the most beautiful diamonds I have seen in recent years.”
The park said that every day one or two visitors discover diamonds in the park. Since a farmer first identified diamonds on the land, more than 75,000 diamonds have been found.
According to the park, the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed in 1924 during an early mining operation on the land that later became the state park.