// Jon Collins-Black / Treasure Inside; Depositphotos
Jon Collins-Black with his treasure (montage)
An American musician and businessman hid five treasure chests and launched a true treasure hunt. The chests contain valuable objects, such as a Casascius bitcoin, a Colombian emerald and rare Pokémon cards.
When I was a child, Jon Collins-Blacka musician turned businessman in California who made his fortune with his first investments in bitcoins, dreamed of finding his own treasure.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps bored with the lockdowns, he decided to share some of his wealth in a… fun way.
Over the last five years, the businessman has dedicated himself to planning a real treasure hunt. Recently he hid five boxes with precious objectsspread across the United States, and wrote a book with clues to find them.
Collins-Black now hopes that treasure hunters will go on an adventure and enjoy their journey.
According to the businessman, there are five trunks — one large box and four smaller ones — hidden in the USA.
None of the chests were buried or placed on private land — they are all accessible, less than 5 km from a public road — and to get to the boxes you don’t need to do any dangerous stunts.
Collins-Black wrote down all the clues needed to find the treasure chests in a book called ““. To find the clues in the text it is necessary close reading and a sharp but open mindsays the businessman.
Most of the pieces in the treasure were acquired by Collins-Black in the last five years, at auctions and antiques dealers.
The precious objects include a colombian green emeralda 2002 Pokémon Shining Charizard card, antiques from a sunken ship, George Washington’s Jell-O cup, and um bitcoin Casascius — the first physical bitcoin ever created
// Jon Collins-Black / Treasure Inside
Jon Collins-Black’s treasure includes a Colombian green emerald, a 2002 Shining Charizard Pokémon card, gold bars, antiquities from a sunken ship, and a Casascius bitcoin — the first physical bitcoin ever created
Collins-Black told Insider that had a “free budget” to the value of the treasure. Based on the price you paid for the objects, do you estimate their total value to be between 2 and 3 million dollarsbut the frequent fluctuation in the price of collectibles and bitcoins can change the value of the chests.
“I was actually trying to figure out what the balance point would be to do this without making it too big“, said Collins. “I didn’t want people they were too crazy“.
The five chests are also puzzle boxesexplains Collins-Black, but they have instructions on how to open them — so treasure hunters who find them don’t have to destroy them.
Only the musician knows where they are the trunks, which he himself hid throughout the country, on a journey of more than 160 kilometers. So, ask your family members or your editor.”won’t help“, says Collins-Black — who doesn’t think he will regret giving this money.
This concept is not new, remember. The genre is known as “sofa treasure hunt” and perhaps began in 1979 with the book Masqueradede Kit Williams.
The book had 15 painted illustrations that hid a sophisticated puzzle. Along with the book, Williams created and buried a jewel-encrusted golden hare.
Masquerade he was resolved three years laterbut it was later discovered that the “winner” had used privileged information obtained from an acquaintance of Williams to gain an advantage and discover the treasure, which caused some controversy at the time.
It now remains to be seen how long it will take to resolve the Collins-Black challenge, what value will Casascius have at the time?… and whether the revenue from sales of the book with the clues (which costs around 40 euros and at the time of this edition) was less than or more than the value of the buried treasures.
