Oak Island gives up treasure

NOVA SCOTIA ­– History TV’s hit series, “The Curse of Oak Island” climaxed its 2018 season with the reveal of a 500-year old broach with a very large ruby coloured gemstone centre piece discovered by British metal detector specialist Gary Drayton.

The rear part of the broach was uncovered first, followed by a second part featuring the gemstone set in metal. Both items were found in the same location after scanning the area using a hand-held metal detecting device.

Earlier, at the same location, Drayton and Marty Lagina found a decorative lock plate, possibly from a long disintegrated chest of some kind.

The Lagina brothers of Rick and Marty have wrapped up their work on Canada’s most mysterious island for the season, for now, with the revelation of the 12-13 faceted cut red jewel encased in a medal broach.

Next Sunday night at 10 p.m., in the season’s finale, the Lagina brothers reveal what they discovered about the ancient gem and readjust their search for the 2019 season, or if the brothers are ready to claim the steps they made towards solving the mystery, but will not continue the search—for now.

Two seasons ago, a Roman sword was discovered off the coast of the island, which started a lot of conversation, but under further testing proved to be a modern replica lost and left in the water for decades, giving it an old look.

One of the many suggestions over the past few hundred years since the Money Pit, as it has been called, was found by three teens in the late 1700s, is the final hiding place of Marie Antoinette’s jewels which she had spirited out of England after she was arrested and eventually guillotined in 1793.

But the most evidence uncovered by researchers to date, seems to point to the Knights Templar, who were outlawed and arrested by the Pope and the King of France on Friday, October 13, 1307 and burned at the stake. Some Templars escaped by gathered in Portugal, which was the last of the Catholic states to eradicate the Templars. It is believed they moved the treasure on several ships, out of Portugal when the round-up of Templars began in that country years later.

They were believed to possess unspeakable treasures and religious artifacts discovered in tunnels under what is now, the Muslim Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem. The loot was taken to safety, somewhere, during the retaking of the city by the Muslin armies.

Researchers over the decades have added credence to the Templar connection to this 57-hectare (140-acre) privately owned island.

Pirate treasure hidden by Captain Kidd and other privateers is also believed to be at the bottom of the money pit, or somewhere else on the island, but Oak Island does not give up its secretes easily and in the years since those three boys started digging in the 1700’s, hundreds of millions of dollars has been poured down the money pit by successive treasure hunters.

Robert Dunfield was an investor in one of those companies dedicated to finding the Oak Island Treasure in the 1960s. In a desperate attempt to find the treasure before he ran out of money and time allotted by the Nova Scotia government for his search, he brought in heavy equipment and assaulted the original money pit.

He did not find what he was looking for but he did more damage to the entire site than anyone else since the 1700s.

When the Lagina’s bought portions of the island in the early 2000s, years after reading about the Island in a Readers Digest article, the successful business partners and siblings gathered a group of investors and search was back on, this time with the latest in technology.

The most resent reveal from Oak Island is the most convincing to date that Oak Island in fact was a treasure trove for pirates and privateers since the 1700s. A broach was discovered in two parts by Rick and Marty Lagina and metal detector specialist Gary Drayton. The stone has been dated to 500 years ago, meaning the broach was likely made around 1518. Is it part of Marie Antoinette’s jewel stash? Is it part of the Templar treasure that went missing around the same time? Or could it be the manuscripts of William Shakespeare? All the above is still on the table, even after more than two centuries of searching.

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