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#1
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Lucky guy who bought stone (diamond/gold) for $5 and made millions
True story from a few decades years ago: a
diamond/gold dealer buys a stone for $5 at a roadside shop. It contains diamond/gold, so he sells it for millions. Does anyone know the name of the guy or some other detail? Was it in Arizona? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com .. |
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#2
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Java Lisper wrote:
True story from a few decades years ago: a diamond/gold dealer buys a stone for $5 at a roadside shop. It contains diamond/gold, so he sells it for millions. Does anyone know the name of the guy or some other detail? Was it in Arizona? Are you sure this (below) isn't the story you're looking for: The dateline was Blue Ridge Georgia, a few years back. It told the story of a paperweight that had been sitting on the desk of a young x-ray technician when it was spotted by an experienced gem cutter. The gem cutter thought he recognized it, and told the owner that he ought to have it looked at by another expert. The two men who had found it flew to Dallas to have the stone examined by a renowned gemologist. When he saw it, his jaw dropped. After a careful examination of the stone, he told the young men they had possession of a sapphire that may be more valuable than the Star of America worth, then, over four million dollars. The gemologist was right. These two amateur rock hunters had casually picked up the sapphire in December of 1987 on a mountainside near Canton, North Carolina. It eventually found its way to the desktop in their office as a paperweight. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tuesday, March 9, 1988, p.1) Imagine a four million-dollar deal sitting on a desktop used as a paperweight, picked up by office workers, juggled by fellow workers, never realizing they were handling a multi-million dollar gem. Why? Because no one knew what they had. They were treating the extraordinary like the commonplace because they did not understand what they held in their hands. www.stphilipscathedral.org/sermprint2000/ April_23_2000_Canon_Conley.htm Yes, the proximate source is a church sermon, however, I recall the story from 1988 (and not from church), so though I cannot go back to the AJC for that year, this is likely a fair rendering, although I have also heard a version in which the rock was purchased for $5, and then the original owner was mighty miffed at discovering what he lost, and sued unsuccessfuly to reclaim his property. If other grayhairs around here recall the story, an assist would be helpful. |
#3
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Java Lisper wrote: True story from a few decades years ago: a diamond/gold dealer buys a stone for $5 at a roadside shop. It contains diamond/gold, so he sells it for millions. Does anyone know the name of the guy or some other detail? Was it in Arizona? Maybe one decade ago, so the STORY goes, a man allegedly bought a piece of star sapphire rough for a few dollars at one of the public gem and mineral shows (along the highway) in Tucson in February. Supposedly the dealer who sold it had no idea of what he had. The buyer then had it cut and exhibited it, with a lot of publicity (and skepticism) at another gem show, with claims of its worth (million or so). At the time, the story appeared to be a PR effort, and the media did pick up on it. And it did create a "gem rush" of sorts. I made a photo of the person with his stone (just in case), but don't believe I still have the details. Did not see any folowup about the eventual sale, etc. (It takes more than just a star, or size, to give a star sapphire a high value.) |
#4
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I found the story. Did he buy it for ten or ten
thousand? Or was it a hoax? Roy Whetstine purchased a stone "from an amateur collector at an Arizona mineral show for $10,000," according to Newsweek, Nov. 24, 1986. It has since been "valued at as high as 2.28 million dollars" and declared to be the world's largest sapphire. This was the case with the infamous Life and Pride of America Star Sapphire, which featured in many news reports of 1985 and 1986. In a story that warmed the heart of even this jaded observer, one Roy Whetstine claimed to have bought the 1905-ct stone for $10 at the Tucson gem show. But things turned dour when a reporter discovered that an L.A. Ward of Fallbrook, CA, who appraised it at the whopping price of $1200/ct, had appraised another stone of the exact same weight several years before Whetstine claimed to have found it. Photographs of the ?ggem?h revealed an opaque corundum lump that would be put to better use dressing grinding wheels than windows at Tiffany. http://www.time.com/time/archive/pre...143918,00.html N A T I O N American Notes Gems From Rocks to Riches Nov. 24, 1986 Texas Gemmologist Roy Whetstine discovered the egg-size violet-and-blue rock in a Tupperware bin at an annual gem-and-mineral bazaar in Tucson last February. The amateur who had found the stone wanted $15 for it but readily sold it to the Texan for $10. Said Whetstine: "I was used to handling rocks and saying 'Yeah, that's a keeper' or 'That's no good.' " This one was a keeper. After months of appraisal, Whetstine last week went public with his treasu a 1,905-carat star sapphire with an estimated uncut value of $2.28 million. Said he: "I'm astounded that this one pebble out of God's universe will take care of my children's lives. That makes me feel very good." But somewhere a rock hound is crying. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 .. |
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"Jo Schaper" skrev i en meddelelse ... If other grayhairs around here recall the story, an assist would be helpful. Completely off topic, but a story of the same kind: My mother was a coincollector of local coins and I enherited her collection. I'm not a collector myself, but as professional art-handworker at the time, I was aware of aesthetics design and designers. I had rather impulsively embarged on private mission that set me off one sunny and frosty wintermorning on my bike toward a far off destination that involved staying overnight at friends and family. All things considered, I had all the reason to be absorbed in my own affairs when it happened that I got a return coin in some remote shop, a coin that I had never seen before. I noted with horror, that the coin had an an-aesthetic appearance or atleast that it didn't appeal to me at all...'Gee, are we going to look at this every day till another coin gets on the market' I thought - and used the coin the next change I got. I never saw anything like it again. Carsten |
#6
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Java Lisper wrote: I found the story. Did he buy it for ten or ten thousand? Or was it a hoax? Good digging -- on finding versions of the story! According to his story, he bought it for somewhere around ten dollars. A chunk of rough star sapphire does not show a lot of promise -- unless you know what you are looking at. That's part of what makes the story so good. Someone who has cut and polished a few star sapphires, would recognize the potential from the crystal shape, hints of asterism, relatively heavy weight, etc. In classic fairy tales, it's the prince (or princess) disguised as a frog -- and an ordinary bumpkin smart enough to see through the rough exterior. Great stuff! The ordinary person might just assume it's another chunk of rock, especially if it's the size of an egg. Don't believe anybody wanted to come out and call the tale a hoax. It provided a lot of free PR -- and fun. And I don't remember any PR about how he found a buyer who would pay the price. A related story came out a few years ago when somebody went around selling a "gem material" that emerged from some debris from an oil well being drilled in Wyoming. According to the story, it came from a depth of some 2000 feet, so there was an extremely limited supply, etc. Apparently somebody unloaded a lot of this to rock shops, etc., throughout the southwest. These folks, in turn, passed the story along to their customers. Believe the material turned out to be glass. There was another one, true, where some boys found some clear purple rocks in the nearby excavation for the cellar of a new home in Bellingham, Massachusetts. The kids called it "The Purples," and proceeded to smash every piece they could find. One of their fathers brought a piece to an local rock shop to have it identified, out of curiosity. Turned out to be gem amethyst. And another, about a girl whose dad admonished her for having an overactive imagination -- seeing dinosaur footprints in the flagstones he was quarrying in the back yard. Fortunately, he had them checked out....and ultimately, quit his job as a tool and die maker, and went into the fossil business. We used to do shows with these folks, and often wonder what happened to them. Mom and dad may be gone by now, but the daughter may well be telling her kids the story of how she recognized the footprints and later how she got to meet famous geologists from all over the world. There quite a few true stories of treasures in disguise. |
#7
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C. Gates wrote:
Java Lisper wrote: I found the story. Did he buy it for ten or ten thousand? Or was it a hoax? Good digging -- on finding versions of the story! According to his story, he bought it for somewhere around ten dollars. A chunk of rough star sapphire does not show a lot of promise -- unless you know what you are looking at. That's part of what makes the story so good. Someone who has cut and polished a few star sapphires, would recognize the potential from the crystal shape, hints of asterism, relatively heavy weight, etc. In classic fairy tales, it's the prince (or princess) disguised as a frog -- and an ordinary bumpkin smart enough to see through the rough exterior. Great stuff! The ordinary person might just assume it's another chunk of rock, especially if it's the size of an egg. Don't believe anybody wanted to come out and call the tale a hoax. It provided a lot of free PR -- and fun. And I don't remember any PR about how he found a buyer who would pay the price. A related story came out a few years ago when somebody went around selling a "gem material" that emerged from some debris from an oil well being drilled in Wyoming. According to the story, it came from a depth of some 2000 feet, so there was an extremely limited supply, etc. Apparently somebody unloaded a lot of this to rock shops, etc., throughout the southwest. These folks, in turn, passed the story along to their customers. Believe the material turned out to be glass. There was another one, true, where some boys found some clear purple rocks in the nearby excavation for the cellar of a new home in Bellingham, Massachusetts. The kids called it "The Purples," and proceeded to smash every piece they could find. One of their fathers brought a piece to an local rock shop to have it identified, out of curiosity. Turned out to be gem amethyst. And another, about a girl whose dad admonished her for having an overactive imagination -- seeing dinosaur footprints in the flagstones he was quarrying in the back yard. Fortunately, he had them checked out....and ultimately, quit his job as a tool and die maker, and went into the fossil business. We used to do shows with these folks, and often wonder what happened to them. Mom and dad may be gone by now, but the daughter may well be telling her kids the story of how she recognized the footprints and later how she got to meet famous geologists from all over the world. There quite a few true stories of treasures in disguise. To follow on from this OT thread, there are opportunities everywhere. I had several over the past couple of years, A circa 1900 Horsh and Smidt watch makers lathe for $5.00 restored nicely, An absorbtion/ammonia type fridge for $10.00 which ive been offered $2000.00, from the original maker for his museum. He hasnt got one! in original working order,and the best of all = It was a grey drizzly day in December, I was idly leaning on the wall over looking at a pile of scrap at my local recycling center, with my mind in neutral, ,just letting things float in and out of my vision when something winked at me so to speak, .. I dragged it out and my heart started to beat rather hard. It looked like a rusty stair bannister end, weighed about 50 lbs and 3ft tall. I ambled over to the yard man and asked what price for the old iron? post, I said I needed it to mend a fence. he said the equivalent of $5.00. I put in the boot of my car and left as slowly as I could hurry. i knew what it was, tho not what vintage. It was a bronze steam whistle of ,i thought a 1930's steam yacht as there were some in our harbour in the years before the last great war. any way, i called a steam enthusiast in Holland that evening and he offered me $700.00 dollars without seeing it. To sell on to another of his steam friends. i said wait till you come to Dorset in the Autumn. It sold to a steam whistle enthusiast at our local steam fair The great Dorset, that Autumn for $750.00 . Not millions but well worth the standing in the rain for half an hour or so. In fact it was off a London to Brighton steam commuter train engine from 1934. The purchaser new exactly what it was and there hadnt been any on the market for 50 yrs. As we say, gone to a good home. What I really look for tho, are old ie medieval smiths tools. at flea markets and car boot sales Particularly the wraught iron hammers with crucible steel ends fire welded thereon. Ive one that was found near here on a roman settlent circa AD 100, tho its chances of being an authentic one is small. Its the right design and shape and size. It has the typical roman round hole for the handle . By putting it in old battery acid pickle for 12hrs brings out all the wrought iron grain structure. Lovely to look at. and use. |
#9
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C. Gates wrote:
SNIP A related story came out a few years ago when somebody went around selling a "gem material" that emerged from some debris from an oil well being drilled in Wyoming. According to the story, it came from a depth of some 2000 feet, so there was an extremely limited supply, etc. Apparently somebody unloaded a lot of this to rock shops, etc., throughout the southwest. These folks, in turn, passed the story along to their customers. Believe the material turned out to be glass. SNIP Debris/cuttings from an oil well are SMALL, ranging from fine mud like particles to very small chips, depending on the rock being drilled through. If it was hard like obsidian, or glass as in the story, the crushing action of the bit would pulverize it. After all, the cuttings have to be removed by the circulating mud which transports them to the surface where they are separated from the mud so it can be circulated again. The only recoverable material large enough to attract a gem collector from an oil well would be a core, and at 2000 feet in Wyoming, they would not have been taking cores yet. This sounds like one of those whoppers. Raj V |
#10
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Raj V wrote: Debris/cuttings from an oil well are SMALL, ranging from fine mud like particles to very small chips, depending on the rock being drilled through. If it was hard like obsidian, or glass as in the story, the crushing action of the bit would pulverize it. After all, the cuttings have to be removed by the circulating mud which transports them to the surface where they are separated from the mud so it can be circulated again. The only recoverable material large enough to attract a gem collector from an oil well would be a core, and at 2000 feet in Wyoming, they would not have been taking cores yet. This sounds like one of those whoppers. Yes, indeed, Raj. It was definitely one very original, and very large, and apparently quite profitable whopper of a story. The amazing thing is, many people believed the story and actually purchased the material. (But, looking at the titles in my daily ration of spam, I guess it should no surprise. Ooops... maybe you'll see the stuff offered online in the next few days. :-) |
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