Page 27 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

6 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
operates differently from the looter, who usually finds sites by chance. The treasure hunter actively searches for sites as an occupation using sophisti- cated electronic search equipment, is motivated by profit, and usually works totally within the law. This was a time when the word gold was on every treasure hunter’s lips. There is an apocryphal story that treasure hunters in their search for gold were ignoring sites that had just silver on board. The literature abounds with accounts of treasure-hunting groups that set up companies to search for famous treasure ships. Nearly all went bust, possi- bly some never had the intention to search for sites in the first place, and others were inept. Yet, even today the gullible investors sign up their hard-earned cash with the dream of gaining huge fortunes—most are sadly disappointed.
Once again the wheel turned and in 1983 Michael Hatcher started looking for the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) shipwreck Gel- dermalsen off the Riau Archipelago in Indonesia. His search started with the discovery of another wreck site, the so-called Transitional Wreck. This was a Chinese junk, dating from the mid-17th century, possibly in the employment of the VOC. There was no silver or gold on this site, but a remarkable collection of Chinese porcelain of the Transitional Period. The collection was sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam, and made Hatcher a small fortune (Christie’s Amsterdam, 1984, 1985; Sheaf and Kilburn, 1988). He went on and eventually found the Geldermalsen which contained a huge cargo of Nanking porcelain (Christie’s Amsterdam, 1986; Jorg, 1986; Sheaf and Kilburn, 1988). There has never been an event quite like the sale of the Nanking cargo which was comprised of over 160,000 ceramic items and 126 gold ingots and sold for about £10 million. Indeed the Geldermalsen sale by itself exceeded in almost every conceivable way anything that Christie’s had done before. For example: Lot 5105 included one thousand similar tea bowls and saucers, circa 1750 at £–21,000–32,000 and Lots 5059–5066 included one thousand (each lot) tea bowls and saucers at £–26,000–40,000. It was staggering. The sheer quantity must have created a nightmare in mar- keting for Christie’s. Clearly, their approach was unconventional and suc- cessful. First, by selling off large lots it was possible for dealers to the resell, allowing for a financial speculation. The catch phrase was “Nanking for everyone.” Even if is was mediocre quality, the buyers came in droves and bought at prices well above the expected or “suggested” price. Addition- ally, it was essential for Christie’s to ensure that the sale did not cause a loss in confidence of people who use the antiquity market for investment pur- poses. Who wants to buy something for £1000 today and find tomorrow, because a wreck has been found with thousands of what were once unique items, that one’s investment is worthless? This has happened with numis- matic collections consisting of rare silver coins, which in the catalogs are