Miscovich Emeralds Hoax

The Miscovich Emeralds Hoax was an alleged attempt in 2010 by businessman and diver Jay Miscovich to pass off modern store-bought emerald gemstones as treasure recovered from the wreck of a 16th-century Spanish galleon.[1] The find quickly attracted the attention of investors and the marine salvage industry, with a number of lawsuits being filed against Miscovich by entities claiming ownership of the wreck. The legitimacy of the treasure was later called into question after the recovered emeralds were found to have been coated with modern epoxy.[2] Miscovich committed suicide in October 2013.[3][4]

Discovery of the emeralds

Jay Miscovich was a Pennsylvania real estate developer and novice diver. During the 1990s he had been an investor in Motivation Inc, a marine salvage company that held the rights to the wreck of a 17th century Spanish Galleon, the Nuestra Señora de Atocha. While visiting Key West in January 2010, Miscovich claimed to have purchased a treasure map for $500 from a shadowy man named Cunningham that lead him to a nondescript location off the Florida coast. There Miscovich was purported to have found, among other relics, hundreds of uncut emeralds scattered on the seabed. According to Miscovich, he picked emeralds off the sea floor "Like cherries on a cherry tree."[3] The water in the area was only 55 feet deep. Though the sea-floor was covered with debris from old and modern shipwrecks, no vessel could be seen in the general vicinity of the find.

Due to the contentious topic of marine salvage law, Miscovich did not announce the find immediately. He created his own salvage company, Emerald Reef LLC, and employed his brother and several other acquaintances to recover the emeralds. The entire operation was conducted with complete secrecy: Miscovich refused to tell anyone not directly involved in the recovery effort about the location or size of the hoard. Miscovich even tracked down Cunningham and paid him $50,000 to forego any legal claim on the wreck, and had a notary watch the transaction.[2]

Miscovich wanted to prove the authenticity of the find and gauge them on their worth. Josh Lents, a gem expert of the Geomological Appraisal Laboratory was shocked when Miscovich showed him the uncut emeralds in his New York office.[2] Lents ran spectroscopic tests on the emeralds and determined that they were from Colombia, but was unable to determine their worth. Sotheby's of New York estimated some of the larger emeralds were worth $45,000, while others were appraised to be worth anywhere between $25,000 and $80,000. Almost all of the experts agreed that they would be worth more if it could be proven that they were from a famous shipwreck.[2] As word of the treasure spread, it attracted much attention in the media and the marine salvage industry.[2] In April 2012 television program 60 Minutes covered a story based around the find, further increasing the notoriety of the wreck.[5][4]

Ownership disputes

As there was no definitive wreck or diving site in the vicinity of the emeralds' location, disputes immediately arose as to who was the owner of the site. Miscovich claimed the site was the property of his company, Emerald Reef LLC, and hired the Delaware law firm Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor to defend his claim.[6] Many different claimants would eventual become involved in the legal dispute. Emerald Reef had to contend with the Spanish Government, which could claim a certain percentage of the salvage profits if the emeralds were from a Spanish ship. There was speculation that the emeralds were from the missing sterncastle of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, and as such Motivation Inc (who owned the Atocha wreck) tried to claim a portion of the treasure.[4][2] Under US federal law discoverers of treasure were not able to claim their finds until overship of the site of the find was established. Other members of the Key West salvage industry voiced doubts about the find, claiming that it was unlikely to find the emerald directly on the sea bed.

A dispute broke out among the investors in Emerald Reef LLC when Miscovich demanded greater control over the emeralds, which were supposed to be stored in a New York bank.[7] He was accused of stashing emeralds on the side in his Pennsylvania home, and was soon involved in another legal battle. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware, and soon the Miscovich's money supply was frozen by legal action.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hearing seeks to unravel emerald hoax | KeysNews.com". keysnews.com. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Swenson, Kyle (2013-04-11). "When Jay Miscovich Found a Multimillion-Dollar Haul of Emeralds, Mel Fisher's Treasure-Hunting Family Attacked". Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  3. 1 2 "Delaware lawyer, firm caught up in tale of lost treasure". Retrieved 2016-06-24.
  4. 1 2 3 Brittain, Chuck. "Fla. treasure hunter, a Latrobe native, commits suicide in Ligonier Township". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  5. ↑ "The trouble with treasure". Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  6. ↑ http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=80931450. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ Swenson, Kyle (2013-04-11). "Treasure Hunters Battle Over a Trove of Emeralds". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
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