[Rockhounds] diamonds sauteed in butter

[J Bryan Kramer]

I have that book on my bookshelf. It is a very good read, and you can
probably pick it up on Amazon for a couple of bucks now.

It is full of dark ruminations about a certain South African cartel. And is
a very interesting history of the search for diamonds in North America and
especially Canada.

BK

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 8:47 PM, Kreigh Tomaszewski <Kreigh at tomaszewski.net>
wrote:

> 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.
>
> --
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-- 
"Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of
reality with which we create our own private world."
Arnold Newman


J Bryan Kramer
North Florida, USA
photos at:
http://pbase.com/photoburner


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