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Ancient treasure worth an estimated $80 million which was found in a ship that sank off Indonesia 1,000 years ago is up for sale again.
The ‘Cirebon treasure’ containing precious Bahraini pearls was discovered in a wreck off the port of Cirebon on Indonesia’s Java island and contains about 250,000 objects, including crystal and gold.
“(The haul) is certainly the largest ever found in Southeast Asia in terms of both quality and quantity,” said Luc Heymans, the Belgian director of Cosmix Underwater Research Ltd, the Dubai-based firm that excavated the find.
The treasure was recovered from the wreck of a merchant ship – nationality unknown – that dates back to about 960AD and was first spotted by fishermen 57 metres under the sea.
The treasure shows objects being traded between the Far and Middle East, including carved rock and crystal typical of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt, Mesopotamian drinking glasses, pearls from the Gulf, bronze and gold from Malaysia and exquisite Chinese imperial porcelain.
