Man convinced he has found trillion-dollar artefact

Forty-four-year-old St Elizabeth resident Ricardo Burrell thinks he has found the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, which went missing from China over 3,000 years ago, and he wants to sell it to the Chinese for US$2.5 trillion.

Burrell, a farmer/market vendor, recently visited THE STAR, carrying the special item, which he is convinced is not just any intrusive ingenious rock, stashed away in a red and black knapsack.

"I am willing to give it over for US$2.5 trillion because I have a lot of business to take care of. I don't want to disclose much, but I have a lot of plans, and to be truthful, I am not asking for all that it is worth because it value a lot more than that," said Burrell.

The Heirloom Seal of the Realm, the original imperial seal, was crafted by the order of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. For a long time, it was the symbol of legitimacy for new emperors, who would establish a new dynasty. But it was lost sometime between the 10th to the 14th century CE. The seal is said to be worth several trillion dollars. Burrell said that he was on his way to collect Sunday dinner from his aunt last year when he came across it.

"It was just lying in the middle of the dirt track. From mi born, mi always a collect stones and crystals so when mi see it mi did fascinated," said Burrell. "When mi look closely on it, it had a little neat cut and that's when I realised it has a crocodile on it and a little man standing on a ledge."

"Because it has been in the dirt for years, the colour of the crystal wear off but mi sure it is it because it has a picture of an emperor with his hand going in the mouth of a dragon," added Burrell.

He said that said he took the object to an institution to have it tested, but was told that it was merely a rock. But Burrell is still convinced he has the real deal. He has a theory on how the seal landed in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth.

"A part of me feel say when the emperor did get overthrown in China, he began to search for another dynasty and he went all over the place and ended up in Jamaica. That is why we see so much Chinese in different places," he said.