In 1981, author and publisher Byron Preiss traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that, once found, could be redeemed for one of 12 birthstone jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York.
The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America in 1982. It contained 12 paintings and 12 verses. The key to finding the casques Preiss had buried and subsequently winning the jewels was to match one of the paintings to one of verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging!
Solved: Chicago (1984) and Cleveland (2004)
Since the publication of the book over thirty years ago, only two of the 12 casques have been found. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago in 1984 by a group of students. See the original image (image 5) and the corresponding verse (verse 12). An annotated image and walk-through of the riddle can be found here.
The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Image 4 linked with verse 4, which in turn lead to the discovery of a casque in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. See an annoted version of the image and verse explanation here.
The Remaining Images
As none of these are solved, these are just theories
Image 1 is assumed to be linked with verse 7 and refers to San Francisco. Possible part solution here.
Image 2 is perhaps linked with verse 5 or verse 6 and is about Charleston (South Carolina).
Image 3 is assumed to be linked with verse 11 and is about Roanoke Island.
Image 9 has no verse links yet but is likely to be either Montreal or St. Louis. Possible part solution here.
Image 12 is often linked with verse 6 or verse 10 and is assumed to be New York. Possible part solution here.
Sadly, Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005. This means that the keys will no longer be exchanged for jewels but the hunt for the ten remaining buried casques continues. I really want them to be found!
The Documentary
its my understanding that the jewels are held in trust.
ReplyDeleteYes, the jewels are available; you just need to send in the key, which is inside the casque. The Boston location was determined, and the key finally located (Boston is not even on the map above) was found in 2020. That leaves 9 of these to go. The Boston jewel was presented to the finder by Byron Preiss's widow on the cable TV show "Expedition Unknown".
ReplyDelete