According to a report by French newspaper Le Parisien, Daniel Roche found 50 pieces of jewellery – including bracelets, necklaces, pendants, gold chains and earrings – on Mont Blanc. The items were scattered around a “large cone” at the Plateau des Pyramides.
It is believed the pieces belonged to passengers from an Air India flight that crashed in the area in 1966, and that they recently resurfaced due to glacial movements.
This was not the first time 62-year-old Roche had been to Mont Blanc; it was reported that he had been visiting the area for many years in search of the remnants of two Air India plane crashes, including the previously mentioned 1966 flight as well as another that occurred in 1950. Amongst the objects Roche had recovered over the years were pieces of clothing, a flare gun and a jet engine.
The latest discovery follows news last year of another French climber who found jewellery at Mont Blanc that was believed to be from the 1966 flight. As previously reported by Jeweller, the 20-year-old man accidentally stumbled upon a metal box while ascending a glacier that contained emeralds, rubies and sapphires valued up to €246,000 (AU$350,884).
Although the younger climber immediately turned the gemstones over to French authorities, it was reported that Roche planned to retain his recent finds for use in exhibitions and lectures on the Air India crashes.
More reading
$350,000 buried gemstones found in Alps