Tana Clymer, Oklahoma Teen, Finds 3.85-Carat Canary Diamond

Oklahoma teenager Tana Clymer found a 3.85-carat canary diamond while searching for gems at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Clymer, 14, went to the park with her parents, where visitors can spend $4 for children and $7 for adults to search for diamonds, precious stones, and minerals.

The diamond-digging area is a 37-acre expanse of ancient volcanic crater, and is the only diamond-bearing site in the world open to the public. ABC News notes that the teen dug for about two hours when something in the dirt caught her eye.

Tana recalled, “I thought it was a piece of paper or foil from a candy wrapper.” Not exactly. What the teen stumbled on was a jellybean-sized canary diamond in the shape of a rough teardrop.

Thankfully for Tana Clymer, Crater of Diamonds State Park has a finders keepers policy, allowing her to take home the 3,85-carat stone. Fox News notes that Clymer added of her discovery, “I think God pointed me to it. I was about to sprint to join my family, and God told me to slow down and look. Then, I found the diamond!”

Bill Henderson, the park’s assistant superintendent, stated that Tana’s diamond is similar to a 4.21-carat canary diamond found in 2006 by Oklahoma State Trooper Marvin Culver. He named his gem the Okie Dokie Diamond. As for Tana, she decided to name her diamond “God’s Jewel.”

Henderson added that 396 diamonds have been found at the park this year, likely because heavy rainfall pushed dirt away from them. Tana Clymer’s find comes just months after a 12-year-old boy unearthed a 5.16-carat diamond while he was on vacation with his family.

Diamonds aren’t the only gems to find at the state park either. Other stones found at the site include amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite, and quartz. More than 75,000 diamonds have been found at the crater since the first one was discovered by John Huddleston, the farmer who once owned the land, in 1906.

Crater of Diamonds State Park is also where the largest diamond in the US was unearthed. The 40.23-carat jewel was discovered in 1924. While Tana Clymer’s diamond wasn’t that large, it is still special, and likely worth a lot.

[Image by Doug Wertman via Wikimedia Commons]