A retired Montana man recently claimed the second-largest gem found so far this year at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, officials said.
Wendell Fox, 70, found the 2.78-carat diamond on the second day of his visit to the park in Murfreesboro with his wife, Jennifer, according to a news release.
After placing the gem, a pea-sized, champagne-brown diamond with an oval shape, into a vial and having it evaluated, the Foxs of Joliet, Mont., dubbed the gem the “Way Out Yonder” as a tribute to their home state.
Diamonds found at Arkansas park through the years
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“All in all it was a great experience,” Wendell Fox said of his first visit to the park, adding that “finding a diamond was just icing on the cake.”
The gem was discovered while the couple scoured over a search area near where another diamond was found in 1990, according to Arkansas parks officials.
“It contains a few inclusions, like most diamonds from the park, but it also has an unmistakeable sparkling, metallic shine,” park retail specialist Amanda Johnson said.
The Foxs said they plan on keeping the diamond and having it mounted in jewelry.
In March, Centerton resident Kalel Langford found the state park’s largest diamond of 2017: a 7.44-carat brown gem dubbed “Superman’s Diamond,” Arkansas Online previously reported.
As of Wednesday, 209 diamonds had been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park so far in 2017, weighing a total of 52.08 carats.