TAMPA, Florida: The idea behind the Tampa Women’s Club charity event was simple. For $ 20, you could buy a flute of champagne and a chance to win a one-carat, $ 5,000 diamond. Organizers of the Saturday event placed $ 10 cubic zirconia stones in the bottom of 399 of the glasses. The prized diamond, donated by Continental Wholesale Diamonds, was placed in the last.
The problem? Eighty-year-old Miriam Tucker accidentally swallowed it. Tucker told local news media that she didn’t want to put her finger in the champagne, so she drank a bit. While laughing with women at the table, she realized she swal- lowed it.
Embarrassed, she had to tell jewelers who were frantically searching for the winner. Already scheduled for a colonoscopy on Monday, she had a doctor recover the jewel.
Woman, 80, swallows diamond at US charity event
