The Great Diamond Hoax, and Other Stirring Episodes in the Life of Asbury Harpending: An Epic of Early California

283 pp. A memoir by one of the men involved in a scam that defrauded numerous prominent individuals, from the founder of Tiffany & Co. to a former Union Army Commander. "Asbury Harpending (September 14, 1839 – January 26, 1923), an adventurer and financier in San Francisco, California, Mexico, and New York City." "The diamond hoax of 1872 was a swindle in which a pair of prospectors sold a false American diamond deposit to prominent businessmen in San Francisco and New York City. It also triggered a brief diamond prospecting craze in the western USA, in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado."