A Friendship carpenter has dug up a 2.44-carat brown diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro.
State officials say 56-year-old Steve Crutchfield had visited the park more than 20 times before finding the brandy-colored gem on Friday. The diamond is about the size of a piece of Chicklet gum, with a flat marquis shape and a frozen metallic shine.
Crutchfield had been wet-sifting material from the East Drain of the park’s diamond search area for more than three hours when he discovered the diamond in his large-mesh screen. He brought it to the Diamond Discovery Center in a vial for certification by park staff.
Park Interpreter Waymon Cox says 530 diamonds have been certified so far in 2010.