Historic yellow diamond unearthed at state park

Two friends have stumbled across a large yellow diamond, unearthed from a popular US state park during a livestream on social media.

Officials at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas have confirmed that Jack Pearadin, 35, and Michael Schumacher, 43, are the proud owners of a 6.03-carat yellow diamond, discovered on January 25.

The pair were hosting a livestream on TikTok and sifting through gravel collected from the state park in December when they made the discovery. Pearadin said when he realised how large the diamond was, his hands began to tremble.

“I was flipping gravel centres and showing people how we do it. Everything was frozen! I was trying to bring out stuff to wash when I could,” Pearadin explained.

The 800-acre Crater of Diamonds State Park attracts more than 100,000 visitors a year on the hunt for diamonds.

The diamond is about the size of a gumdrop and has a glowing canary-yellow hue. More importantly, it is the fourth-largest yellow diamond discovered at the site since 1972. Assistant Superintendent Waymon Cox said it was an incredibly unique find.

“This diamond is absolutely stunning to see! It has a very symmetrical, rounded surface and appears to be a hexoctahedron, a 48-sided crystal. The shape is fairly rare, as most Crater diamonds tend to have 12 or 24 faces,” he explained.

The stone has been named the ‘Pearadin Schumacher American Dream Diamond’ and is the 27th diamond registered this year.

More than 75,000 stones have been unearthed at the park since the first diamonds were discovered in 1906 by farmer John Huddleston, who owned the land at the time. It was designated as a state park in 1972.

6.03-carat yellow diamond | Source: Arkansas Crater of Diamonds/ Arkansas State Parks