Crater Of Diamonds State Park Arkansas Big Payday For Lucky Teen

The appropriately named Crater of Diamonds State Park, located in Arkansas, offers visitors the opportunity to take home a shiny and valuable souvenir. In most cases, the diamonds that are found are tiny and of little consequence. However, 14-year-old Kalel Langford spotted one of the largest diamonds in the Arkansas park’s history during a family visit on March 11, 2017.

According to an interview with Fox 16, Kalel noticed the diamond sitting just outside of a stream of water. It was mixed in with several rocks of a similar size and could have easily been missed.

Kalel’s discovery at the Crater of Diamonds State Park is especially noteworthy when you consider that the gemstone’s coloring is similar to coffee. This certainly isn’t what most people envision when they think of diamonds, so anyone headed to Arkansas to look for valuable stones will need to keep this story in mind.

The Superman Connection

When Kalel made his precious find in the Crater of Diamonds State Park, he knew exactly what to name it: Superman’s Diamond. Although this may seem like nothing more than a young boy naming something after a favorite superhero, there’s actually more to this part of the story.

Those not overly familiar with the DC Comics fan favorite may be as unaware of his birth name as Kalel’s parents were, but it’s not a surprise that the teenager feels a connection to Superman. After all, the superhero’s parents named him Kal-El before they placed him in a rocket headed toward Earth.

Naming coincidence aside, Kalel’s life-long dream was to go to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, and this just might have been influenced by the comic book legend. Superman is known to be able to make diamonds out of coal with nothing more than his hands. The Fortress of Solitude also looks like it could have been created out of a mixture of ice, diamonds, and crystals.

Superman’s amazing vision would have made it a breeze for him to find the diamond in question. Kalel may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he clearly has a keen eye that would make any Kryptonian proud.

Is it Easy to Find a Diamond at the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park?

Before you call your travel agent and book a trip to Arkansas, it’s a good idea to learn more about how viable it is to look for valuable gems in the Crater of Diamonds State Park. The good news is that many people do find diamonds when they’re in Arkansas. The bad news is that most of the findings at the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park are too small to be noteworthy.

Since January 1, visitors to the Arkansas tourist attraction have registered a total of 97 diamonds. This averages out to roughly nine diamonds a week. Of those 97, the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park has only authenticated four as being larger than one carat.

In total, the weight of everything collected so far at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2017 is only 26.84 carats. That’s certainly nothing to scoff at, but you’d still need to have a lot of patience and some luck to find anything that would be worth enough to cover the expense of traveling to Arkansas. This is especially true when you consider that the condition of each diamond can drastically alter its value.

Superman’s Diamond attained from the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park hasn’t been appraised yet, and Kalel may not want it to be because he plans to keep it. It’s probably not going to come close to the value of America’s largest found diamond, which weighed in at 40.23 carats. However, Kalel’s 7.44 carat gem will be among the most valuable of all of the diamonds found to date at the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park.

[Featured Image by Waymon Cox/Fotolia/AP Images]