[Rockhounds] diamonds sauteed in butter

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

I liked the imagery of some guy going over the butter covered floor of a
car wash looking for small stones that stuck. And a huge pile of wet
sand and gravel clogging up the drive outside the wash bay. It makes a
much better urban legend than a sheet of plywood. But the truth is even
more fun.

A Google search found the story of Al Falster finding a diamond in a
sandbank in Antigo, Wisconson was published in "Barren Lands: An Epic
Search for Diamonds in the North American Artic" by Kevin Krajick.
Falster managed the Peli-Clean Carwash nearby. He smeared a gasoline
price sign with margarine and found six more washing the sand over it.

I found the story on Google Books with a search for 'Al Falster
diamonds'. Clicking on the link brings you to page 174 where the story
is told. BTW, you can do a I'm Feeling Lucky with the search and go
directly to the story.

It appears that Al is still at the Univ of New Orleans, so you could
call him up and personally confirm the story.

Thanks for the hint Tim.

Kreigh




Tim Jokela Jr. wrote:
> 
> I recall a fellow in Wisconsin coating a 4x8 sheet of plywood with grease,
> shovelling sand on it and and powerwashing it in a gravel pit. Dunno how
> much sand he moved but he did get some nice glacially transported micro
> diamonds. Think it was Al Falster (sp?), Wisconsin pegmatite guru.
> 
> Another wicked cool way to hunt for diamonds is in a busy urban mall parking
> lot, after dark, after a nice bit of cold weather. Ladies come out of the
> nice warm mall into say minus twenty, gold rings shrink a bit and out pop
> their diamonds. One guy in the car with a big halogen spotlight to catch the
> sparkling diamond - cut to pick up and reflect a lot of light-  the other
> guy to walk to it. Was told it works a treat.
> 
> T
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sicree, Andrew, Ph.D." <sicree at verizon.net>
> To: <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:14 PM
> Subject: [Rockhounds] diamonds in butter
> 
> >
> >
> > I heard a story about a guy in Wisconsin? who owned
> > a car wash.  He got a bunch of expired butter and
> > coated the floor of the car wash with it.  Then he
> > proceeded to wash a huge amount of glacial? sand
> > through the car wash and found six? diamonds sticking
> > in the butter.
> >
> > I put the ??? in because I don't know any specific
> > details about this story.
> >
> > Do anyone know anything about this story?  Is it
> > an geo-urban legend?
> >
> > If it is true, can anyone give me any names,
> > addresses, or other details to check on the story?
> >
> > It is vaguely plausible because it is known that
> > diamonds will stick to grease.  (Grease table
> > are/were used to catch diamonds at mines in
> > South Africa.)
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Andrew
> >
> > Andrew A. Sicree, Ph.D.