Raining diamonds? Hong Kong pedestrians rush to pick up ‘valuable jewel fallen from the sky’… only to discover they are fake gemstones worth less than 5p each
Thousands of shiny stones appeared on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsu
50 people scrambled to grab them only to discover they’re cubic zirconias
Artificial crystals are worth less than a plastic bag from the supermarket.
Pedestrians in Hong Kong thought it was their lucky day when thousands of shiny stones fell from the sky, which they instantly believed to be diamonds.
The sparkly surprises turned out to be cubic zirconias, an artificial crystal that’s worth less than a 5p plastic bag from the supermarket.
More than 50 people desperately scrambled on the floor on November 25 to grab the gems from the sidewalk, it is still unclear where they came from, reportsThe zirconias allegedly fell at around 8:40 pm on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. One woman was reportedly heard shouting from the top of her lungs ‘diamonds’ in mandarin (zuan shi) and everyone scrambled.
Instantly there was madness as everyone was rushing to grab as many stones as they could.
People had their noses nearly touching the ground as they searched for their treasure. Locals and tourists joined in the hunt, knocking each other as they went.
One person – no name given – took their prized ‘diamonds’ to a jewellers to be valued, only to embarrassingly be told that they are fake and worthless. At first glance a cubic zirconia can look like a diamond. It is hard, optically perfect and usually colourless which makes it sparkle.
A video of was released online showing a lot of people crouching down to pick up the tiny stones on the street, which were so small, not even five millimetres wide.
The gemstones are easy and cheap to buy online, on November 27, a bag of 20 cubic zirconias is being sold for 99p on eBay.
No one was told where they came from. The person who threw them onto the street remains unidentified, but whoever it was, certainly fooled a lot of people.
This is not the first time that people have been duped into thinking riches were falling from the sky.
In August, a bizarre incident happened in Mian County, central China, when hundreds of eager residents were seen crouching on the floor at a crossroads, stopping traffic.
They thought the streets had been littered with gold.
However, they were let down when they found out later that the golden powder was spilled sulphur.
