What Would You Do for a Good Engagement Ring?
When it comes to engagement rings, finding the right diamond — or at least one beyond reproach of the internet — is tricky business. Go too small, and you risk borderline invisibility. Go gargantuan, à la Cristiano Ronaldo, and holding up your finger is basically the same as lifting weights. One solution? Follow in the footsteps of 31-year-old Micherre Fox, who traveled from New York to Arkansas last month and spent three weeks digging for her own diamond.
In July, Fox, who lives in the West Village with her boyfriend, 37-year-old Trevor Ballou, spent three weeks solo camping at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, an eroded volcanic crater surface where visitors bring their own equipment and search for rocks, minerals, and gemstones, then keep whatever valuables they find.
According to the New York Times, Fox decided to search for her own stone when she and Ballou started discussing marriage two years ago, both to sidestep the exploitative diamond-mining industry and to do something she felt symbolized the hard work marriage requires. A few select visitors have unearthed diamonds over the years, but it seems like Fox is the first person to use one for an engagement ring.
She certainly was committed: Every day, Fox says, she woke up before dawn, paid a $15 entrance fee, and then spent hours digging and sifting through wet sediment. Per the Times, she walked in shoes with destroyed soles, got bit by chiggers, and got her shovel stolen and resorted to digging with bare hands and broken nails. After weeks of coming up empty-handed — most park finds are apparently less valuable rocks, like jasper, quartz, and calcite — Fox decided she could settle for finding an amethyst when, on her last day, she saw a glistening stone in her fourth bucket of dirt. She figured it was “just glass with silver paint,” but when she took it to the park’s gemologists, they told her it was a 2.3-carat white diamond. “I got on my knees and cried, then started laughing,” Fox said, per the Guardian. She called Ballou, who definitely lucked out here, to share the news.
The diamond, which has been named the Fox-Ballou Diamond, after the couple, is the third-largest find at the park this year. The pair has yet to get it appraised, though a gemologist who spoke to the Times estimates it is worth anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000. For his part, Ballou has yet to propose, telling the Times on Thursday that Fox has “dealt her cards” and that it’s now his turn “to put together something impressive.” I’ll say!
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