Teen Sells 3.85-Carat Yellow Diamond She Found At Gem Park For $20,000

(Crater of Diamonds State Park)

First of all, before we get into money talk, color me flabbergasted by the fact that there’s a park where apparently you can find free gems, take them home at your leisure and then sell them. Crater of Diamonds State Park exists, and it’s made one 14-year-old girl way richer than most kids her age.

The Arkansas park is the only diamond-producing site open to the public in the U.S., bringing in gem hunters from all over trying to find the next big thing.

That big thing for the Oklahoma teen in this case was a canary yellow 3.85-carat diamond that she found while rooting around in the dirt at the park for two hours last October with her family, which she just sold for $20,000, reports the Associated Press.

She told KWTV at the time that she would probably sell the diamond to pay for college if she decided not to turn it into jewelry.

“I thought it was a piece of paper or foil from a candy wrapper,” she said of the discovery. “Then, when I touched it, I thought it was a marble.” She adds that she believes God told her to slow down and take a look, which is when she realized it was a diamond.

Since the park opened in 1906, 75,000 diamonds have been discovered there, along with other gems like amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite, and quartz.

Girl Gets $20K for Diamond Found in Arkansas Park [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist