1 of 3 | Micherre Fox found a 2.3-carat white diamond after three weeks of searching at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park. Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks
A New York woman visited Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park to find a stone for her engagement ring and wound up discovering a 2.3-carat white diamond.
Manhattan resident Micherre Fox, 31, said she decided about two years ago that she would find her own engagement ring diamond.
“There’s something symbolic about being able to solve problems with money, but sometimes money runs out in a marriage,” Fox said in an Arkansas State Parks news release. “You need to be willing and able to solve those problems with hard work.”
Fox said her partner supported her decision and agreed to wait until she found the right stone.
“I was willing to go anywhere in the world to make that happen,” she said. “I researched, and it turned out that the only place in the world to do it was right in our backyard, in Arkansas!”
Fox planned a three-week trip to the park that began July 8. She spent hours searching for the perfect diamond every day, but it wasn’t until July 29, the last day of her visit, that she spotted something along the West Drain of the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area.
The searcher said she initially thought the object was merely the sun glistening off the dew on a spider web, but when she nudged it with her boot she realized it was something solid.
“Having never seen an actual diamond in my hands, I didn’t know for sure, but it was the most ‘diamond-y diamond’ I had seen,” she recalled.
Fox took her find to the Diamond Discovery Center, where staff confirmed she had found a 2.3-carat white diamond, also known as a colorless diamond.
“I got on my knees and cried, then started laughing,” she said.
Fox, who is now planning to have the stone set in her engagement ring, named her gem the Fox-Ballou Diamond, combining her partner’s last name with her own.
“Ms. Fox’s story highlights the fact that, even when putting forth your best effort, being in the right place at the right time plays a part in finding diamonds,” Crater of Diamonds State Park Assistant Superintendent Waymon Cox said. “After weeks of hard work, Ms. Fox found her diamond sitting right on top of the ground.”
