Couple celebrating their anniversary find ‘iced tea-color gem’ — a 1.90-carat diamond

A couple celebrating their 10th anniversary uncovered a gem when their 11-state road trip took them to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

Jessica and Seth Erickson, of Chatfield, Minnesota, discovered a brown diamond on Friday, Nov. 4, at the state park, where visitors are allowed to keep anything they discover, according to Arkansas State Parks.

The couple spent their morning digging dirt before wet sifting later in the day. Seth Erickson “knew right away” a gem in the bottom of his screen was a diamond, according to a news release.

Park staff registered the “iced tea-color gem” as a 1.90-carat brown diamond, officials said.

The Ericksons named the diamond “HIMO,” the initials of their children.

Wet sifting is used to find about three-fourths of all diamonds registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park, officials said. There have been 581 diamonds registered this year at the park as of early November.

Since 1972, more than 33,000 diamonds have been unearthed at the 37-acre park, McClatchy News reported.

Crater of Diamonds State Park is in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, about 110 miles southwest of Little Rock.

This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Couple celebrating their anniversary find ‘iced tea-color gem’ — a 1.90-carat diamond."