On Sunday, 60 Minutes aired a report about an amateur diver and part-time
treasurer hunter who is sitting on an “unbelievable” amount of emeralds
discovered at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico that could end up being more
trouble than they’re worth.
In “The Trouble with Treasure,” CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian brings
viewers the story of Jay Miscovich, a real estate investor from Latrobe, Pa.,
who spent years shuttling between his home 40 miles outside of Pittsburgh to Key
West, Fla.
According to the report, Miscovich poured money from real estate investments
into dives in the hopes of discovering sunken treasure. Eventually, a meeting
with a “down-on-his-luck” diver in a Key West bar resulted in Miscovich
purchasing a nautical map that led to an area literally littered with emeralds
as well as amethysts.
Miscovich made more than 20 dives down to the site to pull up the gemstones
and convinced investors to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into this
sunken treasure.
But, the report notes, even though Miscovich is the one who found the
gemstones, they don’t necessarily belong exclusively to him. His attorney David
Horan said in the segment that federal courts in Key West are trying to sort out
ownership of the treasure. Until then, Miscovich can’t sell a single stone.
“He’s emerald rich and cash poor,” Horan said.
What’s more, Miscovich is almost $10 million in debt to investors and
attorneys, has other underwater explorers accusing him of running a scam and
recently discovered that some of the emeralds have been treated with a polish
that’s only been in use for the past 50 years, dashing hopes that they were part
of an ancient sunken treasure.
A few faces familiar in the jewelry industry netted some airtime during the
13-and-a-half minute segment, including Greg Kwiat and the Gemological Institute
of America’s Tom Moses, the senior vice president of GIA Laboratory and
Research.
The story opens with Miscovich displaying a “sample” of what he found in
front of gemologist Ed Peterson and Kwiat at the Fred Leighton store on Madison
Avenue. Both men “could hardly believe their eyes,” when Miscovich poured out
the emeralds, the report stated. “I think this piece could go to the Oscars,”
Kwiat said of one of the stones.
In a segment taped at the GIA, Moses confirmed that at least some of the
gemstones Miscovich discovered were indeed prized Colombian emeralds.
The segment, along with Sunday’s entire 60 Minutes broadcast, can be viewed on CBSNews.com.
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