Gary Drayton once found an artifact worth $500,000

The Oak Island legend is far from Gary Drayton’s most exciting discovery.

In the same interview with the History Channel, he shared what he believed was his “ultimate bobby dazzler” — an emerald ring worth a staggering $500,000.

“It’s a 1716 Spanish emerald ring made from 22 ½ carat Inca gold with nine flawless emeralds that was probably part of Queen Isabella’s dowry,” he told the History Channel.

“This treasure was intended to go back to Spain, but the galleon was wrecked along with 10 others on the Florida Coast.

That would be my most valuable find, the best shipwreck treasure ever found in the Americas. That was the ultimate bobby dazzler.”

Drayton, the Laginas, and the rest of the Oak Island crew have found a number of other valuable artifacts over the course of the years, including various coins from all over the world.

Fred Nolan was banned from Oak Island as the result of his feud with Dan Blankenship

Perhaps as infamous as the “Curse of Oak Island” itself is the decades-old feud that it sparked.

Fred Nolan and Dan Blankenship — both late treasure hunters who dedicated many years of their lives to finding the Oak Island money pit — found their relationship challenged and eventually destroyed by an ambiguous personal conflict.

What is known about the feud is that Nolan was hired by Blankenship as a land surveyor, and that at some point while working together, there came a dispute over who owned a specific patch of land on the island.

In a 2020 interview with current fellowship land surveyor Steve Guptill and archaeologist Laird Niven, it was revealed that the feud got so bad that Nolan wasn’t allowed on much of the island.

Eventually, he was just allowed near his museum and his home on the island, and he had to use a very specific route between the two to avoid accusations of trespassing.

Popular fan suggestions are impossible due to local laws and financial constraints

If you’ve surfed the “Curse of Oak Island” fan forums enough (and trust us, we have), then you’re likely familiar with the popular criticism that if the Laginas really wanted to find the treasure, they could drill on each portion of land or set up a cofferdam or at least use a method more dramatic than taking a metal detector to one square foot of grass per week. While the impatience is understandable, there’s actually a limit to what the Laginas are able to do on Oak Island even with their extraordinary influence.

Rick Lagina acknowledged this in his interview with MyNorth, and it comes down to the simple fact that there are regulatory agencies that would take issue if they unilaterally decided to excavate the entire island. “You just can’t do that type of thing without permits,” he said. Furthermore, most of these strategies pitched online would be unimaginably expensive. “…[The treasure hunt] is kind of a risk-reward venture,” Rick admitted. “How much are you willing to risk for an unknown reward?”