This article originally appeared on Business expert.
Jon Collins-Black once dreamed of finding his own treasure. Now he has hidden five treasure chests across the United States and wants people to seek out them.
Collins-Black, a musician turned entrepreneur from California, told Business Insider that he made a tidy sum from his early Bitcoin investments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began a project to secure the treasure, then sent people out to seek out it, hoping they’d enjoy the journey.
Collins-Black told BI that there are currently five boxes hidden across the United States – one large box and 4 smaller ones
He said none of the crates were buried or placed on private property, and reaching the crates wouldn’t require dangerous acrobatics.
He wrote down all the clues needed to seek out the treasure chests in a book titled “There is treasure insideCollins-Black said finding clues in the text would require careful reading and a keen but open mind.
Over the past five years, Collins-Black has secured most of the treasures at auctions and from antique dealers. These include Bitcoin Casascius (the first physical Bitcoin ever created), a green Colombian emerald, a 2002 Pokémon Shining Charizard card, shipwreck antiques, and George Washington jelly. BI reviewed receipts for Collins-Black’s auction purchases.
He told BI he had a “loose budget” for the value of the treasury. Based on the price he paid for the items at auction, he estimated the cache’s total value at between $2 million and $3 million at press time. However, continuously changing items comparable to bitcoin can change the value of chests.
“I was actually trying to figure out what the sweet spot would be, size-wise, to do it without making it too big,” Collins said. “I didn’t want people to go too crazy.”
Collins-Black said all five treasure chests are also puzzle boxes, but there are instructions on the chests on the right way to open them so people don’t have to destroy them.
Only he knows where the chests are, so asking relations and the publisher won’t help. He placed the boxes himself throughout the country, covering over a hundred miles during his expeditions.
Collins-Black said he doesn’t think he’ll regret giving the a reimbursement.
“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, I guess I’ll just celebrate that and be happy about it,” Collins said. Black.
“There were certainly some items where people were like, ‘Are you sure you want to put this in the hoard?’” he added. “But ultimately, I think I’ll be excited about whoever finds it.”
Collins-Black said he doesn’t have a favorite treasure on the property, but he does have a soft spot for emeralds, which he calls “beautiful” things to look at.
Treasure hunts have long captured people’s imaginations – you possibly can even download the file geocaching an application to look for real-world information boxes using GPS devices.
Art collector Forrest Fenn hid the chest filled with gold, gems and other valuables in the Rocky Mountains in 2010, and Collins-Black went searching for it.
Collins-Black’s hunt was unsuccessful. After ten years of searching, Fenn’s chest was found finally found in 2020.
Although Collins-Black did his best to cover the boxes, he doesn’t want the secrets to outlive him. In eight or ten years, more clues could also be revealed.
“I don’t want me to be long gone and be left with the legend of Jon Collins-Black’s treasures,” he said. – I don’t desire to tug this on perpetually.