(Minews) - A woman this week found a 3.69-carat white diamond in a public diamond field in Arkansas, a few weeks after a man found a 2-carat diamond there.
In April 2014, a man found a 6.19-carat white diamond there, and in October 2013, a 14-year-old girl found a 3.85-carat in the same park. That diamond was sold for $20,000.
In fact, diamonds are found nearly every single day at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, though usually they are microscopic and we don’t hear anything about them.
More than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed there since 1906. The 37.5-acre search area is the eighth-largest diamond-bearing deposit in the world by search area, and it is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the public.
Of course, the discoveries at Crater of Diamonds State Park aren’t going to catapult these lucky few into anyone’s millionaire’s club. But it does highlight the fascination Americans have with finding wealth, quickly and easily. It’s a culture that has facilitated billions of dollars worth of investment in startups, many of which haven’t been able to prove they can make a profit.
It’s similar to the idea of winning the lottery, or hitting big on a jackpot at a casino. Sales of state lotteries in the U.S. rose 20.4% from 2009 to 2014, according to Statista Last year, states sold $70.15 billion worth of lottery tickets to their residents.
U.S. casino gaming market revenue is projected to reach $73.3 billion this year, up a projected 27.5% from $57.5 billion in 2010, according to Statista.
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However, finding a diamond in the rough might not be as lucrative as it used to be, as the market struggles through a rough patch.
The Rapaport Melee Index (RMI) for small diamonds decreased by 4% during the first quarter of 2015, according to Diamonds.net. The index is down 9.5% year-over-year. Polished prices also declined throughout the first quarter.
“The diamond industry is continuing to face challenging times and serious liquidity constraints as dealers struggle to operate profitably in an extended weak market,” Ezi Rapaport, the director of global trading at Rapaport Group, said in a recent statement.
He said there is uncertainty regarding how long current conditions will last.
“Manufacturers are deferring rough purchases and are cutting down on new production with hopes that limited new supply will help stabilize declining prices and reduce current inventory,” he said.
