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]

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, the salvage company that held the rights to the Nuestra Señora de Atocha wreck. 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. 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 found in the general vicinity of the find.

Notoriety

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 the enigmatic 'Cunningham' and paid him $50,000 to forego any legal claim on the wreck, and had a notary watch the transaction. Miscovich also sought 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. 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. As word of the treasure spread, it attracted much attention in the media and the marine salvage industry. In April 2012 60 Minutes covered a story based around the find, further increasing the notoriety of the wreck.

Ownership of the site

As there was no definitive wreck 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.^[4] 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. The state of Florida also had some claim to the recovered sum.

See also

• Yamashita's gold

References