A French tourist who stopped at an Arkansas state park during his road trip this month made an amazing find, discovering a massive 7.46-carat diamond.
State officials shared that Julien Navas, from Paris, found the massive rock at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, a more than 37.5-acre park known for housing the rocks.
Navas shared with officials that he was visiting the US to witness a rocket launch in Florida and visit friends in New Orleans. However, on the way, he heard about the state park and made a pit stop to try and find himself a diamond.
Officials shared that the tourist rented a basic diamond hunting kit and began scouring through the mud, which was hit with pounding rain just days earlier.
“That is back-breaking work, so by the afternoon, I was mainly looking on top of the ground for anything that stood out,” Navas said.
After a few hours of tough work, Navas was able to spot a 7.46-carat diamond. While it may not shine like that of Marilyn Monroe’s best friends, the dark brown diamond is the largest discovery at the park since 2020 and the eighth all-time biggest ever unearthed.
The park described the diamond as being the size of a candy gumdrop.
Being the smart man he is, Navas shared that all he “can think about is telling my fiancée what I found.”
His current plan is to get the stone cut into two and give one to his fiancée and the other to his daughter.