For those who are aware of the television series “Curse of Oak Island” you may have wondered whether the show’s production may have not acted in the best interests of the island itself. This is a perspective shared by Robert Young, who is the owner of the property. He has launched a website that gives us the opportunity to view 20 years of artifacts discovered on the island. The discoveries go back to the time he first purchase the property and are a walk down memory lane in some respects.
Young admits that many of the artifacts, often shown through photographs, took him by surprise. Like many of us who would stroll through a piece of property we bought, the expectations would be low as to finding anything of exceptional interest or value. But as time went on his discoveries would include a musket ball and hard currency from past decades.
One thing that may surprise you is that he didn’t even own a computer in those late years of the 1990’s, so much of what he was recorded was in the form of a camera or written documentation. Added to this lack of modern technology was the problem of identifying everything he had found. Going to the library only took him so far — but not very far. Young admits for the most part the majority of accumulated collection went largely unidentified for a long while.
A particular mystery that has him puzzled to this day is how did an uncirculated Mexican coin end up in Nova Scotia, some 2,300 miles away?
Despite many of the unknowns, Young has said the website is a gift of sorts to the people of Nova Scotia. The collection is rife with history, and for visitors both young and old they can begin searching for the answers to many of the mysteries, as well as connecting with the history of the island.
A disappointing reality is that he has declined to follow up with renewing his Treasure Trove license, meaning he had stopped the search back in 2008. He has good reason to do it though. An unfortunate reality is that there was the possibility of additional conditions being attached to the license, with the result that his property could be designated as a Special Place by the government. Such a designation would limit or prohibit him from building on or selling the property, effectively making it useful only to the government. Young had decided it was a risk-reward scenario, with the risk being far too high against the reward.
Over the past decade, Young’s judgment ended up being spot on. As a collection, the artifacts historically depict the colonization of the island during the 1700’s and 1800’s according to historians who have gone online and examined the collection. Residents of the island and who have an interest in the television series are likely to find this interesting. But from a broader perspective there really isn’t anything of exceptional value monetarily or historically save a cricket badge or uncirculated coin. Young saved himself a lot of money and kept his property as any perceived value of the collection has been primarily historical.
He admits at 63 years old his original intention was to keep the island as close to its original condition as possible. This is why he feels that the television series compromised that vision to a certain degree. If you did not know, Young has zero association with the makers of the television series, and his only access to the island is via boat. Negotiations over the years to access the island by the causeway owned by Rick and Marty Lagina have proved unfruitful.
Some may feel sorry for Young whose intentions for Oak Island were basically noble. Then came Progress, and the island became a source of profit for networks and treasure seekers. Now Young has resigned himself to keeping ownership of the property but nothing more. He does make some money selling coins, but apart from that he is content to let sleeping dogs lie. It’s safe to say he feels somewhat betrayed by all this progress, but when you combine history with a curse with potential undiscovered treasure, you have the makings of a profitable television series.
The good news is that you can go online and see the real treasures unearthed by its owner without having to buy cable.
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