Jon Collins-Black, a musician, entrepreneur, and crypto investor, has buried over $2 million worth of treasure inside five treasure chests across the United States. There is one large chest, and four smaller boxes, all buried on publicly accessible land. Collins-Black’s aspiration is that the national scavenger hunt “might captivate the imagination of millions” with its “magical” treasure.
The boxes contain rare and valuable items such as a green Colombian emerald, highly coveted Pokémon cards, a jelly glass owned by America’s first president George Washington, and a Casascius bitcoin – the first physical bitcoin ever to be made. It was his own successes with early bitcoin investing that helped launch Collins-Black into the wealth required to pull off this kind of stunt. Depending on when the treasure is found, the value of the bitcoin (and other items in the treasure including the price of gold) could massively inflate (or deflate) the value of the treasure.
Also included in the chests are items of “historical significance” with links to figures like “Pablo Picasso, Andrew Carnegie, George Washington, Amelia Earhart, Jackie Onassis, Henry David Thoreau, and Louis Comfort Tiffany.”
The project has been in the works for around five years, as Collins-Black collected treasures via auction and antique dealers. Collins-Black told Business Insider that his budget was “loose” for the project and that he was “actually trying to figure out what the sweet spot would be as far as how big to make this without making it too big, I didn’t want people to go too crazy.”
Collins-Black was also one of a number of keen (but ultimately unsuccessful) hunters for the treasure chest that art collector Forrest Fenn hid in the Rocky Mountains in 2010, no doubt inspiring his own treasure hunt.
To help the public find these treasure troves, Collins-Black has written and self-published the book There’s Treasure Inside, released on November 12. Promotional material for the book says “There’s Treasure Inside offers more than the promise of literal wealth. This book invites you on a journey not just across America but into enriching tales of world history, personal growth, and the broader treasures of life―love, joy, and understanding.” The book’s official website is similarly poetic, opening: “Our lives are one perpetual treasure hunt. You and I seek. We pour our heart and spirit, tears and sweat, energy and fiery will into acquiring those things we covet, whatever that may be. This is true of everyone.”
The author has confirmed that if the treasure chests go unfound for too long, he may release new clues to help them be spotted. “I don’t have this desire for me to be long gone and there to be the legend of the Jon Collins-Black treasures, I don’t want to drag it on forever” he told BI. Collins-Black also shares information about the hunt and its treasure on his Instagram account.
Once the chests have been found, they will need to be carefully unlocked as they are all puzzle boxes. But Collins-Black has generously written instructions on how to open them on the chests, which have each been custom-made by a blacksmith who “worked on them for over a year”, ensuring that they don’t need to be destroyed to be opened.
In order to keep the locations of the treasure chests secret, Collins-Black has not told another living soul where they have been hidden. So important was it that information didn’t get leaked, Collins-Black reduced the size of the team working on There’s Treasure Inside, leading to him clarifying that “far fewer people were involved in the editing process than would normally be the case” and that being the reason for a series of typos in the first edition. On the official website, he confirms that these typos aren’t clues.
Collins-Black said that despite questions about the project and whether he should be giving away so much money that “I think I’ll just be excited for whoever finds it”. “If bitcoin goes to $500,000 or $1 million or these treasures are worth $10 million in five to seven years and someone finds them, and then I think I’ll just celebrate that and be happy for it”.
By Verity Babbs / Courtesy of artnet
