The recent discovery of jewelry at Mont Blanc by a French climber who stumbled into a treasure box by chance explains the time-value of jewels and re-emphasizes the significance of keeping wealth in precious metals and stones. According to yahoonews.com, the estimated value of the contents of the small treasure box which contained emeralds, rubies and sapphires was $332,000.
In 1950 an Indian plane crashed on Mont Blanc with another Boeing 707 flying from Mumbai crashing in the same area in 1966 where 117 people among them Homi Jehangir Bhabha who was the founder of India’s nuclear program died. Since then; climbers have regularly come across plane debris, baggage, human parts and at one time a bag containing diplomatic mail that was given to the Indian authorities upon discovery in September 2012. Of all the items climbers have stumbled upon during their hikes on Mont Blanc, this latest treasure box is the most valuable.
Even though the climber out of honesty and the need to do what is right chose to surrender this haul to the French police, the discovery has left lovers of jewelry with an understanding of the ever rising values of gems, making them the one of most suitable ways to store wealth. It’s presumed that aboard the ill-fated flight were people with enough money in valuable currencies, but 50 years later, only jewelry can be found intact and more valuable than they were in 1966.
French police are now in the process of tracing the rightful owners of these jewels with the help of their Indian counterparts. If they fail to find rightful owners or their heirs, then under French law, the treasure will be given back to the young man who came across it. Keeping wealth in form of jewelry judging from this discovery, is the best choice because who knows, what if the ‘almighty’ dollar collapses? Would wealth disappear just like that? The stock market has collapsed more than once! Peace unto them who keep their riches in precious stones and valuable metals.
This French incident is a reminder the Nazis’ theft of French wine in the 1940s. Hitler and his men knew how valuable French wine was and would be, so they stashed as many bottles as they could, some were later located, others disappeared into the world of private wine collectors but one thing remains, the value of the French wine stolen during World War II rose.
As the French police work to find owners of the Mont Blanc treasure, the axiom; ‘Diamonds are forever’ comes to life. Whoever coined this phrase knew the time value of diamonds and jewelry in general, making them the safest most convenient form of keeping hard-earned riches for any future time, good or bad. The young man will be glad to receive the jewels back if the owners are not located because by voluntarily surrendering them to the police, he has shown an act of honesty and kindness that gives him the right to be the next in line for the $332,000 treasure should owners not be found.
