14 DAY TRIAL // This past Tuesday, the news broke that, just last month, a 27-year-old professional salvager by the name Eric Schmitt came across a sunken treasure while exploring the waters off the coast of Florida, US.
Before anyone starts daydreaming about piles of gold or silver coins and mountains of jewelry like the one's described in fairy tales, it must be said that this sunken treasure that Eric Schmitt pulled from the water boils down to just one religious artifact.
In a nutshell, that the 27-year-old stumbled upon while exploring the bottom of the ocean in the proximity of Florida's coastline is an ornate gold trinket, whose photo is available next to this article.
Information shared with the public says that the trinket remained hidden at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for several decades before being discovered by Eric Schmitt. Thus, it the piece was lost in a shipwreck that occurred about 300 years ago.
According to ABC News, the trinket used to be part and parcel of a necklace. The rest of this piece of jewelry was pulled out of the water back in 1989, when it was found in roughly the same area where the 27-year-old found his treasure.
Historians and other specialists who have until now had the chance to study the ornate gold trinket say that, before sinking to the bottom of the ocean together with the ship carrying it, it probably served to hold sacramental bread used in communions.
For the time being, it is still unclear just how much the trinket might be worth. Regardless of the piece's value, it looks like 27-year-old Eric Schmitt probably won't get obscenely rich thanks to it anytime in the near future. This is because the trinket is now in custody of the US District Court in South Florida.
Should this recently discovered religious artifact ever be sold, Eric Schmitt and his family, together with Brent Brisben, the current operations manager for Queens Jewels, the company which owns the rights to the wreckage, will get to split merely 20% of the resulting proceeds.
Commenting on the discovery of this trinket in Floridian water, Brent Brisben wished to stress that “We find shipwrecked artifacts on a daily basis, but it's more like ship spikes and musket balls, so when you get an extremely rare, unique piece like this, it's exciting.”
“It's incredibly difficult work. It's long, it's in the middle of the summer, it's hot. You're in the sun all day. It's quite laborious work, so when you come across an amazing artifact like that, words can't describe it. It's a surreal experience to touch something from 300 years ago, to learn about it, and to share it with the world,” he added.