- #1
Thread Owner
Pirates Wealth Saught from the Bank of England in 1925
- Thread starter jeff of pa
- Start date
Red-Coat
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2019
- Messages
- 7,877
- Reaction score
- 24,914
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Surrey, UK
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
From AI:
The Italian Bonetti family is not actively pursuing this claim anymore, as the entire saga has long been recognized as an unverified historic myth.
The History of the Claim
The story originated in the 19th century and gained widespread media attention in the 1930s and 1940s. The core details of the legend include:
The Legend: An Italian adventurer named Francesco Claudio Bonetti supposedly traveled to Madagascar in the 18th century, married a local queen (often cited as Ranavalona I), and became king.
The "Fortune": He allegedly amassed an enormous fortune of roughly 75 million French francs, which was supposedly deposited into the historic French East India Company or various European banking institutions.
The Legal Battle: In the 1930s, descendants of the family (such as Gaetano Claudio de Re Bonetti from Molfetta, Italy) attempted to legally prove their lineage to claim the funds.
Why the Claim Ended
The pursuit faded away completely mid-century due to two insurmountable factors:
Lack of Evidence: Archival researchers and historians never found any verifiable proof that Francesco Bonetti actually ruled Madagascar or that any such multi-million franc deposit existed in any central European bank.
The "Inheritance Scam" Connection: Over the decades, European authorities realized that the "Madagascar Bonetti Fortune" was frequently used as a backdrop for advance-fee inheritance scams. Fraudsters would contact people named Bonetti, asking them to pay legal fees upfront to help "unlock" the massive family fortune.
Today, the story exists purely as a fascinating piece of Italian genealogical folklore and a cautionary tale from old newspapers, with no active legal cases or diplomatic pursuits remaining.
See also this fanciful yarn from the Australian newspaper ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ on 4th August 1950 (plain text transliterated in the scroll box to the left):
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18183490
The Italian Bonetti family is not actively pursuing this claim anymore, as the entire saga has long been recognized as an unverified historic myth.
The History of the Claim
The story originated in the 19th century and gained widespread media attention in the 1930s and 1940s. The core details of the legend include:
The Legend: An Italian adventurer named Francesco Claudio Bonetti supposedly traveled to Madagascar in the 18th century, married a local queen (often cited as Ranavalona I), and became king.
The "Fortune": He allegedly amassed an enormous fortune of roughly 75 million French francs, which was supposedly deposited into the historic French East India Company or various European banking institutions.
The Legal Battle: In the 1930s, descendants of the family (such as Gaetano Claudio de Re Bonetti from Molfetta, Italy) attempted to legally prove their lineage to claim the funds.
Why the Claim Ended
The pursuit faded away completely mid-century due to two insurmountable factors:
Lack of Evidence: Archival researchers and historians never found any verifiable proof that Francesco Bonetti actually ruled Madagascar or that any such multi-million franc deposit existed in any central European bank.
The "Inheritance Scam" Connection: Over the decades, European authorities realized that the "Madagascar Bonetti Fortune" was frequently used as a backdrop for advance-fee inheritance scams. Fraudsters would contact people named Bonetti, asking them to pay legal fees upfront to help "unlock" the massive family fortune.
Today, the story exists purely as a fascinating piece of Italian genealogical folklore and a cautionary tale from old newspapers, with no active legal cases or diplomatic pursuits remaining.
See also this fanciful yarn from the Australian newspaper ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ on 4th August 1950 (plain text transliterated in the scroll box to the left):
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18183490
Top TreasureNet Finds!
Top TreasureNet Finds!
Users who are viewing this thread
Supporting Vendors
View all →
