A Pennsylvania mother who recently lost her son and father uncovered a valuable diamond while sifting through dirt at an Arkansas State Park. Keshia Smith planned a trip to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas more than a year ago after hearing about the famed area known for finding gems.
But after burying her son in October and her father last week, Smith was desperate for a tiny miracle to help her through her grief. 'I have felt so much pressure the last six months. In October, I lost my son, and we just buried my dad a week ago. It has been a lot!' she told KAIT 8.
While sifting through the dirt on the southside of the park on April 22, her second day in the park, Smith found a shiny stone and stuck it in her bag as she kept digging. Later, she showed the small stone to other parkgoers while washing it off at the pavilion, and they told her to have park officials look at it. Staff confirmed she had found a 3.09-carat white diamond.
'To me, it looks like a heart,' she told KAIT 8. 'That's the first thing I saw when I found it.' Smith named the rock the Za'Novia Liberty Diamond. Za'Novia is a combination of her grandchildren's names, while Liberty is in honor of America's 250th birthday, she told Arkansas State Parks.
Smith went to the park with her boyfriend, Joey, and her brother, Kirim. Parkgoers have found 214 diamonds in the park this year, with more than 75,000 having been unearthed there since 1906, according to WREG. The first diamond was discovered by John Huddleston, who owned the land at the time, in 1906. The largest diamond ever found in the US was discovered at the park in 1924, before the land was designated a state park. The pinkish stone was named the Uncle Sam and was 40.23 carats.
Smith's stone is the second largest found this year, WREG reported. It could be worth up to $30,000. 'I really needed this. I really prayed for this, and I just can’t believe it actually happened!' she said.
