MURFREESBORO — Victoria Brodski thought she’d found a pretty piece of glass during a recent trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park, but instead she left with the second-largest diamond found this year at the park.
The 25-year-old and her family drove from Tulsa on May 6 and bought tickets to enter the diamond field at 9 a.m. A few minutes later, she was sitting with her daughter and brother by a culvert when she picked up what she thought was a pretty piece of glass. Noting its shine, she put it in a plastic bag and continued searching.
A couple of hours later, Brodski walked to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where she saw what uncut diamonds look like. It was then she realized she may have found more than just glass.
Diamonds found at Arkansas park through the years
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“I was looking at pictures of diamonds on display and noticed their similarity to what I had found,” Brodski said. She quickly showed her find to park staff members, who confirmed she had found a brown diamond.
“Mrs. Brodski was searching where running water had deposited lots of gravel in the plowed field. Diamonds are a bit heavy for their size, so they are often found near other heavy rocks and minerals,” park interpreter Waymon Cox said in a news release.
Brodski’s diamond was one of three found on the surface that day. It is the second-largest diamond found so far in 2017, topped only by the 7.44-carat brown diamond found by a 14-year-old.
“Mrs. Brodski’s diamond is one of the more beautiful brown diamonds I’ve seen from the park,” Cox said.
It is a tradition at the park for visitors to name their finds. Brodski dubbed her gem the Michelangelo Diamond, because her family had decided to use the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as code words in case they found anything at the park.
Brodski noted, “When I learned that I had found a diamond, I called my mom and said, ‘Michelangelo.’”
Brodski said she plans to sell the stone and split the money with her family.