Crater of Diamonds State Park, Ark. (KATV) — Two visitors to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park struck it big during a TikTok livestream, finding a 6.03-carat canary yellow diamond that park officials say ranks among the largest ever registered at the site.
Jack Pearadin, 35, of Nashville, Ark., was sifting through a bucket of gravel on TikTok Live on Sunday, Jan. 25, when he spotted what he first thought was a smaller stone shining from the center of a pile he had flipped. Pearadin and his friend, Michael Schumacher, 43, of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, had dug the dirt on the south end of the park’s search area in late December and later processed the concentrated gravel.
The search came just days after a winter storm coated the area in more than an inch of ice, making it difficult to wash and sort the material, Pearadin said.
“I was about eight feet away, and for some reason I turned back and saw it glowing from the center of the pile,” he said, adding that he had to dig deep with a spoon to pull it free. “I was shaking!”
Schumacher, who had returned to Wisconsin before the storm, watched the discovery on the livestream and said an offhand remark he made earlier seemed to come true.
“Don’t worry about it, dude,” Schumacher recalled telling Pearadin about not yet sorting the concentrate. “That big, flawless canary that’s in there is just growing!” Schumacher returned to Arkansas as soon as he could, and the friends brought the stone to park staff on Friday, Feb. 6, when it was confirmed as a 6.03-carat yellow diamond.
Two visitors to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park struck it big during a TikTok livestream, finding a 6.03-carat canary yellow diamond that park officials say ranks among the largest ever registered at the site. (Arkansas State Parks)
Assistant Superintendent Waymon Cox called the gem “absolutely stunning,” saying it as a rare 48-sided crystal known as a hexoctahedron — a shape less common than the 12- or 24-faced diamonds typically found at the park.
About the size of a gumdrop, the diamond is the fourth-largest yellow diamond and the 22nd-largest diamond of any color registered since Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972, officials said. It was the 27th diamond registered at the park in 2026.
Two visitors to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park struck it big during a TikTok livestream, finding a 6.03-carat canary yellow diamond that park officials say ranks among the largest ever registered at the site. (Arkansas State Parks)
The friends named the stone the “Pearadin Schumacher American Dream Diamond”, inspired by the song “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)” and their find during the nation’s 250th anniversary year.
Pearadin said the moment was less about money than the hunt itself. “I personally was never looking for this — I just enjoy the experience,” he said. Schumacher agreed, calling the search a dream worth chasing “until I absolutely can’t do it anymore.”
date: 2026-02-12 19:03:00
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