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Arkansas Park Yields Nearly 4.5-Carat Diamond
A California woman found the yellowish stone and named it Lucy. Here’s what inspired the name.
PHOTO A California woman found this 4.38-carat at the Crater of Diamonds State Park on Sept. 23. It is the largest diamond found at the park so far this year, and the biggest find by a visitor since October 2020.
PHOTO Noreen Wredberg of Granite Bay, California found the diamond and named it Lucy, after her husband’s kitten.
Murfreesboro, Ark.—A California woman with a penchant for national parks unearthed the largest diamond found yet this year in Arkansas.
The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro announced recently that Noreen Wredberg of Granite Bay, California found a 4.38-carat diamond after less than an hour of searching on Sept. 23.
Park Superintendent Caleb Howell described the stone as being “about the size of a jellybean.” It is pear shaped in its rough form with a light yellow hue that Howell described as “lemonade yellow.”
According to information provided by the park, Wredberg, who is retired, spends her leisure time traveling around the country visiting national parks with husband Michael.
They were in nearby Hot Springs, Arkansas when they decided to make a slight detour south to visit the Crater of Diamonds, which Wredberg had seen featured on a TV show.
Wredberg found the diamond on a sunny morning following several days of heavy rain, which creates optimal conditions for finding diamonds, particularly big ones, the park said.
“Many visitors surface search for diamonds after a good rain,” said Park Interpreter Waymon Cox, who noted that more than an inch of rain fell at the park between Sept. 19 and 21.
“The soil had dried a little, and the sun was out when Mrs. Wredberg visited two days later. She was in just the right place to see her diamond sparkle in the morning sunlight.”
Wredberg told the park she might have her diamond cut, depending on its worth.
Every visitor who finds a diamond at the Crater has the opportunity to name it; Wredberg is calling her diamond Lucy.
For many, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the word “Lucy” and “diamond” is the famous Beatles song. But Wredberg named her stone after her husband’s kitten, which is gray with hints of yellow in her fur similar to the diamond.
Diamonds were first discovered on the land that is now the Crater of Diamonds State Park in 1906 by the farmer who owned the land, John Huddleston. Attempts were made to mine the site commercially over the years.
It was during one of these attempts that the park yielded its largest recorded find, a 40.23-carat white diamond dubbed the Uncle Sam.
Cutters turned the diamond into a 12.42-carat emerald cut. A private collector paid $150,000 for the diamond in 1971.
The Crater became a state park in 1972. The diamonds found there are mostly white, brown, and yellow, in that order.
EditorsAug 10, 2015
Why there are diamonds in ArkansasMore on Sourcing
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