the sound an Edison cylinder sapphire makes.........

[MicaMonster]

..........when you are holding it with jewelers tweezers......and it goes "p-TING!" across the room........

OH NO!!!!!!!!!

[Bob]

Unfortunately, I know that sound all too well.

[Valecnik]

and then after the "p-TING!" usually a "tik - tik - tiktiktik" as it bounces hither and yon faster than you eyes can see...

[FloridaClay]

And the vacuum cleaner will find it without ever letting you know that it did.

Clay

[VintageTechnologies]

If this happens over shag carpet then you are royally screwed. This makes a strong argument for using blue sapphires instead of clear ones -- they might show up better on the floor.

[Phonofreak]

After the p-TING, I'd be saying !@#$%^&*!!
Harvey Kravitz

[victorIIvictor]

Can't pigs be trained to find these things, like they are trained to find truffles?

[HisMastersVoice]

I lost a sapphire on my workbench once, I took packing tape and taped every square inch of it until i finally found it stuck to a piece of the tape.

[Chuck]

Plink. The tweezers snap shut. Then, listen
for it.....tick tick (in the distance).

Last time that happened to me it was a recorder
cutter.

It took me three hours of searching under bright light, down on my hands and knees until I found it. It was hiding just off the edge of the carpet, wedged down between carpet and baseboard barely visible.

But, I had looked everywhere else and after
all, everything has to be somewhere and there it was.

I feel your pain though, that sound means
lots of time looking....

Chuck

[edisonphonoworks]

I have been down this road, and it usually was the harder to obtain recording stylus also.