Man Mines Diamonds in New York Sidewalks

Man Mines Diamonds in New York Sidewalks

NBC New York Raffi Stepanian, 43, earns his cash scouring the sidewalks in Midtown’s Diamond District for hidden treasure – chips of rubies, diamonds, platinum and gold that somehow fell off their owners’ jewelry and became lodged in the cracks between cement slabs or hopelessly stuck in a piece of gum some passerby flippantly spit out onto the street, according to a report. In less than a week, Stepanian told The New York Post he amassed enough gold for two sales worth nearly $850 on 47th Street.

Interesting story! Good way to make money if your not too self conscious.

NBC New York

reply to post by TechUnique


Another good place to find discarded gold is the beach.
Alot of bracelets and chains get lost at the beach.

Do people really lose that much gold/silver/diamond jewelry?

Hands up to the guy, great initiative.

Some of the comments on the link that the OP provided are quite amusing too!

Originally posted by scottlpool2003
Do people really lose that much gold/silver/diamond jewelry?

Oh yes. There is a gold bracelet of mine at the bottom of Shasta Lake. It was a tight-fitting piece of jewelry so I thought nothing of it when I went swimming in the very deep reservoir. To my horror I climbed out of the water sans bracelet, water has a funny way of working jewelry off your body.