Man Makes A Living Scouring NYC's Streets For...Gold and Diamonds?

What if I told you that you could earn $800 a week scouring the sidewalks and gutters of Manhattan's Diamond District? That's what one Queens man apparently earns prospecting for precious metals and gemstones in New York City's streets.

According to Raffi Stanian, whose tools are "tweezers and a butter knife," the streets are "paved with gold."

From the New York Post:

"The percentage of gold out here on the street is greater than the amount of gold you would find in a mine . . . It comes close to a mother lode because in the street, you're picking up gold left by the industry."

With a reporter in tow, Stepanian took his Styrofoam cup of mud to a friend's polishing studio on 47th Street near Sixth Avenue and demonstrated how he "pans" the precious particles like an old-fashioned prospector -- by hand, in a small metal basin with water and a strainer.

"The stones are already cut and manufactured -- it's a step above a mine," he added. "I'm finding them already cut and polished."

You can view this New Yorker's quest for gold below:

"Everyone is always running around, and everyone is always losing something," admitted one diamond dealer, 54, who would give his name only as Rueven. "Sooner or later, you're going to find a diamond."

(H/T: New York Post)