A man who was searching for pythons discovered a piece of actual treasure instead.
Mark Rubenstein was taking part in the Florida state-wide python killing competition when he discovered a gold pendant adorned with diamonds and sapphires.
Mr Rubenstein found the piece of jewellery in the Everglades in February, and because of the location of the discovery, he believes that it landed in the swamp in the wreckage of a fatal plane crash.
Though the Florida coast has been the site of many shipwrecks in the past, this find is not thought to be a remnant of the Spanish era in spite of the fact that the design of the jewel harkens back to the 17th century.
Instead, Rubernstein and his cohorts have determined that the jewel was probably left behind as a result of one of two different plane crashes.
Eastern Flight 401 crashed in the same area of the Everglades in 1972, and a ValuJet plane crashed in May 1996 just 300 yards away from where Rubenstein found the pendant.
There were significant casualty totals in both crashes, as more than 100 people died in each flight.
Rubenstein described the discovery in a detailed account to PR Wire of his multi-day, unsuccessful search for pythons.
'It was just a glint but being part magpie I am obligated to stop,' he wrote.
'It takes me a couple of times of walking back and forth to find it. The guys think I’m nuts until I unearth it. It’s gold.'
He then took it to a local jeweller to have it examined, who confirmed that the nickel-sized pendant is officially made of gold and 'Rose Cut' diamonds which is arranged in a cross in the middle and possible three leaf cluster formation.
'When I brought this up to my friends we all had the same reaction. We agreed in concert that it would be very good karma to get this piece “home,"' Mr Rubenstein wrote.
He told FoxNews that if he is not able to reunite the piece with the rightful heirs, he will donate it to the Archdiocese of Miami.
Saturday 25 May 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330758/Python-hunter-finds-mystery-gold-pendant-deep-Florida-everglades--tragic-plane-crash-killed-hundreds-people.html
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