Famous Engagement Rings and Diamonds - Uncle Sam

Famous Engagement Rings and Diamonds - Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam is the largest diamond ever to be found in the United States of America. ‘Uncle Sam’ is a nickname for the diamond, named after Wesley Oley Basham who discovered the giant stone. This diamond was discovered by Wesley in 1924 at the Prairie Creek Pipe Mine which is now called the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

The original rough diamond stone was a staggering 40.23 diamond carats, roughly 8 grams. The Uncle Sam rough was cut into a 12.42 ct emerald cut diamond by Schenck & Van Haelen of New York. It has a diamond colour grade of M which is not fantastic - however many reports suggest a slight pink tint as opposed to the usual yellow, which I think is very desirable and fitting for engagement rings! This 40 ct emerald diamond also has a clarity grade of VVS1 which is a very high quality diamond with very minimal inclusions or impurities.

Uncle Sam is now owned by an anonymous private collector; however, it was first owned by Peikin Jewellers of Fifth Avenue, New York. The American Museum of Natural History then held it temporarily before it was sold to a dealer named Sidney de Young who sold it to the collector for $150,000.

The Crater of Diamonds State Park where Uncle Sam was found by a member of the publc.	The original rough diamond before it was cut into the famous emerald shaped Uncle Sam diamond.

Famous Engagement Rings and Diamonds - Crater of Diamonds State Park

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is located in Arkansas and is the only diamond mine on earth that is open to the public. Amazingly anyone who finds a diamond (no matter how big or how valuable!) gets to keep it. So if you’re looking at diamond engagement rings why not take a look at this park. You never know, you could find a monster of a diamond!

Over 25,000 diamonds have been found at Crater of Diamonds State Park by the public, the largest of which being Uncle Sam. I was amazed to hear about this diamond bearing site. I couldn’t believe that the public could keep diamonds they find no matter what the value is. Then I noticed the park charge an entry fee to all who enter, and I am willing to bet they do pretty well on the entry fee alone, possibly even better than the amount of money they would have received from the precious diamonds found there, of which over the years there have been relatively few.