About This Artifact
A deep red gemstone with 12 hand-cut facets, weighing roughly three karats, recovered by Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton on Lot 8 during Season 5. The pair found the stone while rechecking the hole where a decorative brooch mount had just been recovered, in the same area where an ornate lock plate with a keyhole and floral design had been found the previous week. Gary estimated the stone dated to the 1700s based on its craftsmanship.
A certified gemologist in Halifax identified the stone as a rhodolite garnet, not a ruby. The gemologist dated the hand-cut faceting technique to 400 to 500 years old, noting that the pre-modern cuts predated the era of calculated refraction angles used in modern gem cutting. The silver setting contained up to 73 percent copper, consistent with centuries-old metallurgy, and the green patina from copper oxidation confirmed its age. Rick and Marty Lagina later flew to Calgary with the brooch to have it examined by Charles Lewton-Brain, a professional gemologist, master goldsmith, and longtime university instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Using a digital video microscope capable of 220x magnification, Lewton-Brain confirmed the Lot 8 stone was a genuine hand-cut garnet with a refractive index above 1.7.
During Season 9, researcher and 32nd-degree Freemason Scott Clarke presented findings connecting the rhodolite garnet brooch to a Masonic Royal Arch High Priest breastplate. Clarke explained that in Freemasonry the 13th degree of the Scottish Rite is the Royal Arch of Enoch, and that the High Priest wears a ceremonial breastplate set with twelve precious stones, a duplicate of what the biblical high priest was believed to have worn. He noted that rhodolite garnet is one of the stones specified for the breastplate, and that if the Oak Island brooch was a fragment of such a piece, it would represent a direct connection between Freemasonry and whatever activities occurred on the island centuries before the Money Pit's discovery.
Historical Context
Lagina team
Where It Was Found
Found at Lot 5 — Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
