Emeralds and sapphires discovered on the Mont Blanc massif half a century after the crash of an Indian plane have been sold at auction.
This content was published on
2 minutes
RTS
The Bossons treasure was discovered ten years ago on the glacier of the same name by a young hiker from Savoie, Swiss public radio, RTS, reported on WednesdayExternal link. The authorities made the connection with the Kangchenjunga, an Air India Boeing 707 that crashed in the area in 1966.
No heir having come forward, the stones were divided, as required by law, between the discoverer and the town of Chamonix (Haute-Savoie) where the glacier is located. At the time, each lot was valued at €150,000 (CHF144,000).
It was the discoverer’s share that was sold at auction. Chamonix’s share is on display in its crystal museum.
The sale attracted around 40 bidders in the auction hall and more than 300 online. In half an hour, the hundred or so stones, valued at €6,000, sold for a total of €25,000.
An Indian jadeite stone with a starting price of €150 sold for €1,100.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Abroad
The citizenship obstacle course facing spouses of Swiss Abroad
This content was published on
The Ethos Foundation recommends that shareholders vote against all compensation-related items at the Annual General Meeting on March 7.
Top Swiss firms close to reaching gender quota in boards
This content was published on
The proportion of women on the boards of directors of the fifty largest listed companies in Switzerland currently stands at 28%.
Swiss committee wants to end government resignations during legislative term
This content was published on
Members of the Federal Council should no longer be able to leave office before the end of their term, according to a House of Representatives committee.
Swiss government seat: Ritter and Pfister nominated to succeed Amherd
This content was published on
Markus Ritter from St Gallen and Martin Pfister from Zug were officially nominated by the Centre Party on Friday to succeed Defence Minister Viola Amherd.
Top Swiss court rejects Russian request for administrative tax assistance
This content was published on
There is currently no reason to transmit banking information to the Russian Federation, the Swiss Federal Court has ruled.
After strike by radiologists, doctors demonstrate in Bern
This content was published on
Following a strike by radiology technicians in Fribourg, doctors, vets, dentists and chiropractors expressed their frustration on Friday outside parliament in the Swiss capital.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.