This story from the AP is so cool, especially if you love
jewelry...and mysteries:
Salvagers discovered thousands of pearls Friday in a small, lead box
they found while searching for the wreckage of the 17th-century
Spanish galleon Santa Margarita.
Divers from Blue Water Ventures of Key West said they found the sealed
box, measuring 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches, along with a gold bar, eight
gold chains and hundreds of other artifacts earlier this week.
They were apparently buried beneath the ocean floor in approximately
18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West.
"There are several thousand pearls starting from an eighth of an inch
to three-quarters of an inch," said Duncan Mathewson, marine
archaeologist and partner in Blue Water Ventures.
James Sinclair, archaeologist and conservator consulting with Mel
Fisher's Treasures, Blue Water's joint-venture partners, said the
pearls are very rare because of their antiquity and condition. He said
pearls don't normally survive the ocean water once they are out of the
oyster that makes them.
"In this instance, we had a lead box and the silt that had sifted into
the box from the site of the Margarita, which preserved the pearls in
a fairly pristine state," he said.
An initial cache of treasure and artifacts from the Santa Margarita
was discovered in 1980 by pioneering shipwreck salvor Mel Fisher. The
ship was bound for Spain when it sank in a hurricane in 1622.
The pearls will be conserved, documented and photographed in an
archaeological laboratory above the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key
West.
"Until they're properly cleaned and conserved we don't know their
value, but it would seem they would be worth upwards of a million
dollars," Mathewson said.
Want to get your own gorgeous pearls but don't have a million dollars?
No sweat. Visit www.moonriverpearls.com for the company's 20% off
pearl sale. Hurry, though, sale ends June 30.
http://www.moonriverpearls.com/s-66-pearl_jewelry.aspx?WT.mc_id=6-20-07-BLOGStillTimeJuneSale
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