Since 2013, Pearadin has scoured Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park, amassing more than 300 gems, most sold online, according to his own accounts.
The 6.03‑carat yellow stone burst from the gravel when Pearadin tipped the material onto a table during a TikTok livestream, prompting an exclamatory "Holy crap" that went viral.
Laura Stanley, a certified gem appraiser in Little Rock, weighed the stone and pegged its value at about $250,000, far below the $1 million estimate the hunter claimed.
The park, the only U.S. site where the public can dig for diamonds and keep them, charges a $15 fee for a bucket of rock and has yielded over 37,000 finds since 1972, with the largest ever being 40.23‑carat in 1924.
Pearadin plans to split the diamond’s proceeds with fellow hunter Michael Schumacher, and both hope to auction the stone later this year, a move that could spark a bidding war among collectors.