Nov 06 - 2007
Man nearly tosses 4.38-carat diamond
Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park
but on Monday he nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped
rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat,
tea-colored diamond.
Johnson, 36, made the dig Saturday at the park and left his
equipment in a locker. When he came back Monday morning, he made the
discovery.
Crater of Diamonds State Park, which opened in 1972, is the world's
only diamond-producing site open to the public, and visitors can keep
the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the
16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found in 1975.
Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park
this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than
700 diamonds have been found there this year.
Since moving to Arkansas from Iowa
in February, Johnson said, he was living off money made by selling
diamonds. He only recently took a job at a convenience store, partly
because he "got tired of selling diamonds to make ends meet."
Park officials declined to speculate how much money Johnson could
get for the diamond. Johnson suggested he expects much more than what
he is used to getting.
"If someone offers me that much money, it's theirs," Johnson said.
