Woman Unearths 2.3 Carat Diamond For Her Future Engagement Ring In State Park

Micherre Fox, a 31-year-old from Manhattan, New York, recently unearthed the 2.3-carat diamond – about the size of a pea – at the appropriately named Crater of Diamonds State Park. She came here last month specifically on a mission to find her own diamond for an engagement ring. 

“There’s something symbolic about being able to solve problems with money, but sometimes money runs out in a marriage. You need to be willing and able to solve those problems with hard work,” Fox said in a statement. 

“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!” 

As the three-week visit to the state park came to an end, it seemed like she wasn’t having any luck. But on the last day, July 29, she noticed something glistening in the ground. Initially thinking it was a dew-covered spiderweb, she nudged it with her boot and realized it was 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 said.

At least 366 diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2025, Fox’s being the third largest of the year. In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed in the region since the first diamonds were discovered in the early 20th century.

As for the price of Fox’s newly found stone, the easy answer is “priceless.” The tough answer is “it’s hard to say.” The value of a diamond depends not only on its size, but also on its cut, clarity, color, and the state of the market. The average price of a one-carat natural diamond reportedly peaked at $6,819 in May 2022, but had fallen to $4,997 by December 2024. Once again, though, there are a bunch of factors that dictate the price of a single gemstone.

Pure diamonds are composed of a single element – carbon – but their atoms have become arranged in a rigid crystal pattern called a diamond cubic lattice. For this to occur, carbon must be subjected to crushing pressures and scorching hot temperatures, typically over 725,000 pounds per square inch (about 5 gigapascals) and temperatures above 1,000°C (1,832°F). 

These conditions are usually found in Earth’s mantle, the thick slurry of molten rock that’s found deep beneath the surface. Today, however, diamonds can also be grown in laboratories, offering an alternative for those concerned about the environmental and ethical impacts of traditional diamond mining.

Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only diamond mine in the world that’s accessible to the public. It’s a great place to hunt for diamonds because of the colossal geological changes that have shaped the area throughout Earth’s deep history.

Roughly 300 to 250 million years ago, the landmasses we now call South America and North America collided, crumpling ancient ocean sediments into the Ouachita Mountains. Over time, wind, rain, and rivers wore those mountains down. By the Cretaceous Period (144 to 66 million years ago), shallow seas covered the southern remnants of the range, placing the park’s location just offshore in a warm, coastal environment.

Then, about 100 million years ago, instabilities in the Earth’s mantle forced molten rock, gas, and mineral-rich fragments upward in a narrow volcanic pipe. It tore through the crust at astonishing speed, carrying crystals like diamonds from deep within the mantle. 

Near the surface, pressure dropped suddenly, gases expanded, and the vent exploded in a violent eruption. The blast carved out a 33.6-hectare (83-acre), funnel-shaped crater with steep inward-sloping sides. Much of the erupted material was scattered across the remaining crater, lightly buried in its sediments, soils, and streams. 

Today, those same ancient forces have left behind a landscape where anyone can sift through history and maybe leave with a gem in their pocket.