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Quinn
06-26-2005, 02:16 PM
Found a fun article. Time to go to the Beach!!!


In the past 48 hours, Juhu Beach has been dug up by people looking for diamonds.

The city?s sea has apparently been washing these precious stones up the shore for the past two days, drawing in hordes of treasure hunters. The cause for the presence of these supposed diamonds, is still unknown.

While most were in the traditional white, others were green, red and blue in teardrop and round shapes.

A popcorn vendor, who refused to divulge his name fearing an income tax raid because of his newfound loot, said, ?Since Friday, lots of people have been looking for them. Local fisherman found some in the sand and the word spread.?

At its peak, there were close to a thousand people on the beach, but by 11 pm on Saturday, the crowd had thinned down to around 50. It is said that those who persevered, weren?t left disappointed.

Uday, a local from the area claimed that he had collected 15 diamonds in 30 minutes.

College student Vispy Shaw collected only one diamond, but claimed that it was probably the most authentic looking in the area. Shaw says, ?I had come to the beach to show a friend Parveen Babi?s house when I saw the commotion and decided to start my own hunt.?

His pessimistic friend however said, ?The locals plant things here to attract a crowd and once people gather, they steal their wallets and chains.?

However Naresh, the local buttawala, even claimed that a jeweler had come earlier in the day and verified the authenticity of the diamonds.

The confusion and excitement at Juhu beach (the area incidentally lies between Golden Beach and Silver Beach) was palpable through the evening. Some ingenious fishermen even took chunks of sand home and filtered it through a sieve to make the hunt easier.

And as the crowd, mainly consisting of local fisherman, scoured the beach, richer folk were seen buying off the shiny stuff from anything between Rs 50 to Rs 100.

Shakti Kapoor?s bling operation

Diamonds also washed up the shore opposite Shakti Kapoor?s residence Gandhigram.

Says Kapoor, ?Most of those who came here found at least one diamond for himself.? The actor claimed that there were so many to be found that even his watchman and driver own a piece each.

?I feel it was a ship?s consignment which spilled into the sea,? Kapoor surmised.

Gregory Diamond
06-26-2005, 07:50 PM
Now rough diamonds washing up on the beach I could believe, not polished.


Some of the finest quality rough in the world comes from Nambia's Skelton Coast. The rough in the water swirls in the sand which grinds up junk and only produces cleaner material. Problem is that the shoreline makes it next to impossibe to get to.


GReg

Quinn
06-28-2005, 03:57 PM
Wouldn't it take quite a while for diamonds to wash up on a beach from a shipwreck?

Gregory Diamond
06-29-2005, 12:48 PM
BOMBAY (Reuters) - Thousands of people have been flocking to a beach in India's financial hub in a manic diamond rush, but police said Wednesday the stones were fakes and warned them to stay away after one treasure hunter was drowned.

Beggars, hawkers, street children and even housewives and tourists have been arriving at Bombay's Juhu beach, scouring the sands for glittering stones for the past three days.

The treasure seekers are on all fours on the sand from early in the morning, witnesses and police said, sifting through the gravel looking for precious stones. Many even continue their search into the night, searching by torchlight.

"We heard people found diamonds on the beach," said Dhruv, a 15-year-old boy who sells newspapers on Bombay's commuter trains. "So I came here with my friends and we have found more than fifty diamonds which we managed to sell."

Police, however, said the stones were fake and warned people not to venture out onto the beach, particularly during the high tide. But the warnings have apparently had little effect.

While local jewelers were reported as saying that the stones were worthless, crowds on the beach said they had been sold for 300 to 1,500 rupees ($7 to $34).

Theories on the source of the stones vary.

Some believe that they could be part of smuggled loot which was lost in the Arabian sea and washed up on the beaches, while others say they are props left behind after a recent Bollywood film shoot.

panachegems
09-09-2005, 01:25 AM
Uh' polished goods, green, red & blue ? I find that one hard to bite.
AC:)