Family visiting state park unearths 3-carat diamond worth thousands

‘I honestly thought it was too big to be a diamond!’ said Raynae Madison of Oklahoma, who made the dazzling discovery

A family visiting an Arkansas state park has unearthed a nearly three-carat diamond worth thousands of dollars.

Raynae Madison and her family from Cookson, Oklahoma, were visiting the Natural State on a weekend trip to celebrate her nephew William’s birthday. With nothing but a beach digging kit and sand sifting tools from a dollar store, they made their way to the world-famous Crater of Diamonds State Park on September 13.

After the family dug through a few buckets of dirt on the north side of the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area, Madison noticed an “unusual oblong, shiny stone,” according to an Arkansas State Parks press release retelling the remarkable discovery.

“At first I thought it looked really neat, but I wasn’t sure what it was,” Madison said in a statement. “I honestly thought it was too big to be a diamond!”

A family visiting an Arkansas state park has unearthed a nearly three-carat diamond worth thousands of dollars (Arkansas State Parks)

The staff at the park’s Diamond Discovery Center identified the stone as a 2.79-carat chocolate brown diamond.

“Brown diamonds from the Crater occur due to a process called plastic deformation, which creates structural defects during a diamond’s formation or movement in magma," Emma O'Neal, Park Interpreter at Crater of Diamonds State Park, said in a statement.

She explained: "These defects reflect red and green light, combining to make the diamond appear brown.”

The staff at the Crater of Diamonds State Park identified the stone as a 2.79-carat chocolate brown diamond (Arkansas State Parks)

It is the third-largest diamond out of the 403 gems registered at the park this year (Arkansas State Parks)

A natural 2.79-carat oval diamond can range in price from $11,500 to $106,000, depending on factors such as the gem’s color and clarity, according to diamond comparison site StoneAlgo.

But there can be a huge discrepancy when it comes to uncut diamonds like the one Madison found.

Madison named her stone the William Diamond after her nephew. It is the third-largest diamond out of the 403 gems registered at the park this year, according to the press release.

“2025 has been a great year for large diamond finds! So far, we have registered four diamonds weighing over two-carats,” O’Neal said.