The Trouble with Treasure/60 Minutes

[roc2rol]

(CBS News) A man walks into a bar...it sounds like the setup to a joke, but that's how this story begins. Amateur diver Jay Miscovich walks into a bar in Key West, Florida, is shown a treasure map and a shard of pottery by a diver friend, and then -- although he's almost broke -- buys the map, convinced there is treasure and fortune to be found deep in the Gulf waters off Florida. Three year later, there's certainly plenty of treasure -- Miscovich says he's discovered tens of thousands of emeralds -- but so far no fortune. Armen Keteyian reports.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-5 ... -treasure/


Did anyone see this 60 Minutes Show?
What a story!
Got any theories?
Thanks !
roc

[somehiker]

Just watched it.
Thanks for posting it,Roc.

Regards:Somehiker

[roc2rol]

Yo!

My idea is that someone salted the sea with these emeralds
and mined its still a considerble haul

but how much more are they worth
if there from shipwrecked Spanish Galleon?
My guess is considerable
and I think that what behind this find....

[somehiker]

Roc:

The existence of a map means others knew where it was,or at least where it should be.More than one wreck at the location is not uncommon where shoals are nearby.The presence of traces of a modern polishing compound found during the testing of samples does suggest any claim of ownership by the Spanish government,or claim of antiquity by the US gov't would be pointless.Could be why it's there .

It was suggested that the emeralds may have been a shipment tossed overboard by drug ? smugglers.
If so,I would think the emeralds should be spread over a wider area,since they usually dump their contraband while being pursued by the authorities.

But:
I wonder if it may have been lost in a sinking of one of the refugee boats from Cuba or Haiti ?
Both islands were Spanish colonies and used by the Spanish treasure fleets as waypoints,and the original source of the emeralds and quantity involved suggests the Colonial period.So old caches of valuables could have existed and been found by someone who then decided to take their find and head to the US.

Regards:SH.

[roc2rol]

That’s all that probable, sh
and so well expressed
geesh! wish I could express complex subjects like that
excellent

The existence of the map though
was only indicating a piece of Spanish colonial pottery shard
that was found in that location
as I understand the story

this peaked Miscovich interest
and he purchased the map
Thinking maybe he discover a shipwreck

Well he found the emeralds in vast quantities!

Here the clue for me to a possible salting scheme

Greg Kwiat: We're only halfway through the first case. The question will be what the provenance is. If it is something exciting or sexy, it could add a lot of value to the stone. It could double or triple the value of the emeralds themselves.
The provenance -- the origin -- that Miscovich had hoped for was emeralds from an ancient shipwreck, adding potentially tens of millions of dollars to the value. But he had no proof so gem specialists couldn't put an age or price on the gems.

The one thing we can be pretty certain of
is that the geological process, at that location,
DIDN'T created those emeralds
Most likely mined in Brazil

keep on
roc'n

[somehiker]

I watched it again,and you are correct.
The pottery shard was the reason for the map,and the emeralds a surprise.
And the emeralds were found some distance away from the pottery.
Cannon and musket balls were found near the emeralds,as well as other debris.

The possibility of "salting" was suggested by other divers....aka rivals.
A wreck divers' equivalent to similar claims by many LDM enthusiasts against others who find things which may be related to the LDM or other topics.
The emeralds,and there is amethyst as well,were identified as originating in Columbia,where the best quality emeralds are mined.He has recovered,according to the story,over 26,000 so far,with a lot more still down there.Millions of dollars worth,even in raw form.
Sounds like way too much salt to me.Especially given the possibility of seizure by gov't agencies,or potential loss to other claimants.

Regards:SH.

[cubfan64]

Just watched it for the first time Roc - thanks for the link. Stories like these are fascinating - hard to say whether it's a scam of some kind or not. On one hand human nature suggests to me that if a guy down to his last dime found something like this, he would have kept it completely quiet and tried to sell it on the black market to make as much $ as possible. On the other hand, greed could set in and cause a person to think that not only would they make a name for themselves by going public, but IF it did really come from a pirate wreck, it would increase the value 10 fold.

I'd be surprised if it turned out all this was salted in a scam - it just doesn't seem probable. Honestly if I had to guess right now, I'd say the idea of drug smugglers "dumping" the stuff there for some reason isn't a bad idea - the fact that some of the stones had some sort of "polish" on them certainly indicates to me that these aren't simply raw emeralds mined in Columbia many years ago - or if they were, somebody somewhere within the last 50 years has handled them.

Pretty interesting story - it'll be fascinating to see where the story goes from here down the line.

Paul

[roc2rol]

It is interesting guys

To imagine that that was all mined
let say in last 20 years
boggles my mind.
What a mother load!

International news !
How do you keep it quiet?
So if it was mined 300 years ago
Seams --a bit more feasible


I don’t know much about mining emeralds
Well I know zilch about mining period !!

But if that was mother load vein that was mined
lets say in the last 20 years.
What effect would that have when dumped on the market?

Yet it does seem farfetched to believe that the mining owner
(or some intermediate buyer)
would dump it in to the sea to raise it value.


All I know for sure is that I want a chunk real bad!

Keep on
roc’n
guys!