[imagesource: Jon Collins-Black’s Treasure / Facebook]

Hidden treasures worth more than $2 million (R36 million) are up for grabs after an entrepreneur hid five chests full of loot and valuables across the United States — and left a book full of clues to help hunters find them.

Jon Collins-Black, who made a fortune in Bitcoin investment, has spent the last few years gathering a collection of valuable loot ranging from shipwreck-salvaged gold doubloons to rare Pokémon cards, all with the intention of stashing them in hidden locations for treasure hunters to discover.

Collins-Black has now also released a book of clues, “There’s Treasure Inside,” which contains riddles, maps, and all the information needed to locate the treasure boxes.

“You don’t have to be a genius to solve the clues. There’s no grand cypher. If you have curiosity, imagination, and the willingness to try something new, you can find the treasures that I’ve hidden,” Collins-Black said.

 

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Items secreted away in the chests were designed to appeal to a wide range of audiences, with the likes of sports-trading cards — like Michael Jordan’s 1986 rookie card — hidden in some, while gold and historical artefacts are inside others.

Also included is a diamond and sapphire brooch owned by Jacqueline Onassis, a fourth-century BCE gold Greek laurel, a coin designed and minted by Pablo Picasso, and a rare specimen of lunar rock.

There’s even a single Bitcoin hidden somewhere – which is currently worth nearly $100,000 – and could likely increase in price by the time its chest is found.

 

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“I created this treasure hunt because I live for adventure,” Collins-Black said of the project, which he devised during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. “I hope to ignite that same sense of wonder and curiosity in everyone who joins this journey.”

None of the chests are located in a dangerous location, Collins-Black says, and all are somewhere in the open – and none are buried. Each treasure is also within a few miles of a public road, he’s said, while none are located on private property.

Collins-Black is hardly the first eccentric millionaire to hide a chest full of riches and leave behind a series of cryptic clues.

Around 2010, New Mexico art dealer Forrest Fenn hid away a chest of gold and diamonds estimated to be worth $2 million somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and wrote a poem with clues to its location. For a decade, it went unfound – and at least five people perished trying to find it – until Fenn abruptly disclosed its location a few months before his death in June 2020. It has never been revealed if someone found it.

If indeed legit – and not just some genius way to market your book – the Collins-Black treasure hunt sounds like the perfect gap year option for those uncertain matrics with a case of wanderlust. It also reminds us of a long-standing gripe:

Why hasn’t anyone rebooted Scott Scott’s Skattejag yet?

[source:nypost]