Jon Collins-Black once dreamed of discovering his own treasure. He has now concealed five treasure boxes across the United States, and he wants people to find them.
Collins-Black, a California-based musician turned entrepreneur, told BI that he profited handsomely from early bitcoin bets. During the COVID-19 epidemic, he launched a project: secure a horde of riches and send people out to find it, hoping they enjoy the adventure.
Collins-Black told BI that five chests—four smaller ones and one giant box—are now buried around the United States.
He stated that none of the chests are buried or placed on private property and that reaching the boxes does not require perilous actions.
He compiled all of the clues necessary to locate these treasure boxes into a book titled “There’s Treasure Inside.” According to Collins-Black, uncovering these leads in the text will necessitate careful reading — as well as a sharp yet open mind.
Over the last five years, Collins-Black acquired the majority of the treasure through auctions and antique dealers. There are items such as a Casascius bitcoin, the first physical bitcoin ever created, a green Columbian emerald, a 2002 Shining Charizard Pokémon card, shipwreck antiques, George Washington’s jelly glass, and more. BI has reviewed the receipts for Collins-Black’s auction transactions.
He informed BI that he had a “loose budget” for the treasure’s value. Based on the auction prices he paid, he calculated that the overall value of the stockpile was between $2 and $3 million at press time. However, rapidly fluctuating items such as bitcoin could affect the chests’ value.
“I 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,” according to Collins. “I didn’t want people to go too crazy.”
Collins-Black stated that all five treasure chests are also puzzle boxes; however, if the chest is discovered, instructions describing how to unlock the boxes are included, so people do not have to destroy them.
Only he knows where the chests are, so asking his family and publisher won’t help. He personally delivered the boxes throughout the country, hiking more than a hundred miles in the process.
Collins-Black stated that he does not believe he would regret giving this money away.
“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,” according to Collins-Black.
“There were definitely a couple of items where people were like, ‘Are you sure you want to put that in the treasure?'” he told me. “But at the end of the day, I think I’ll just be excited for whoever finds it.”
Collins-Black told BI that he does not have a favorite treasure in the collection, but he does have a soft place for the emerald, which he describes as “beautiful” to look at.
Treasure hunts have long captivated popular attention, from the $350 million-grossing 2004 film “National Treasure” to geocaching, a real-world game in which individuals search for “caches” of information using GPS devices.
In 2010, art collector Forrest Fenn secreted a chest packed with gold, jewels, and other treasures in the Rocky Mountains, prompting Collins-Black to search for it.
Collins-Black was unsuccessful in his search. After a decade-long search, Fenn’s chest was discovered in 2020.
Collins-Black has gone out of his way to hide the boxes, but he does not want the secrets to outlive him. In eight or ten years, he might reveal further information.
“I don’t have this desire for me to be long gone, and they’re to be the ‘Legend of the John Collins-Black treasures,'” declared him. “I don’t want to drag it on forever.”
