Dewy White found a 2.71-carat white diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks
An Indiana man visiting Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas spotted something shiny on his shovel and confirmed it was a 2.71-carat white diamond.
Paoli resident Dewy White said he and his wife spent two days at Crater of Diamonds State Park at the start of their long road trip, and they enjoyed their time so much they decided to stop again on their way home.
White said he came armed with some screens he bought from a store in Murfreesboro prior to his second visit and he and his wife ended up in the Canary Hill area by the south wash pavilion.
“A very nice gentleman I met on my first day out here suggested that area,” White told Arkansas State Parks officials. “He seemed like he knew what he was doing, and it looked like a nice, shaded spot.”
White said he knew the object he unearthed was something different from the quartz he had been encountering before it even hit his screen.
“It looked like a metal piece of glass,” he said. “The minute I saw it in my shovel, I knew.”
The glittering gem on his shovel turned out to be a pea-sized white diamond weighing 2.71 carats.
White dubbed his discovery the Hope Diamond, explaining it was because he had hoped to find a diamond.
Officials said the Hope Diamond is the fourth-largest diamond registered at the park this year.
