By Tim Binnall
The famed Fenn Treasure fetched a little over $1.3 million in an auction of nearly 500 individual items from the legendary cache of riches. Hidden in the Rocky Mountains by eccentric art dealer Forrest Fenn back in 2010, the collection of gold coins and artifacts had been sought after for a decade until it was finally discovered in the summer of 2020 by a man later identified as Jack Stuef. The ultimate fate of the riches, however, remained uncertain until this past November when Heritage Auctions announced that they had been enlisted to sell 476 pieces from the treasure by a private group that had purchased the cache. When the month-long auction concluded on Monday evening, all of the items had been sold for a grand total of $1,307,946.
The highest-priced piece in the collection was a huge gold nugget which weighs over one pound and sold for an astounding $55,200. Meanwhile, the most intriguing item, a sealed glass jar containing what is said to be a 22,000-word autobiography penned by Fenn, was purchased for a whopping $48,000. It remains to be seen whether its new owner will open it and reveal what the art dealer had written or if the lengthy message is destined to remain a secret. For those on a budget who might be wondering if they could have gotten a proverbial piece of the action, the lowest-priced item was three grams of gold dust which sold for $900.
With the treasure now set to be scattered far and wide, it would seem that the only complete public display of the riches was by way of the Heritage Auctions website which showcased all 476 of the pieces that had been up for sale. While the dispersing of Fenn's riches may serve as something of a conclusion to the epic saga which began so long ago, there remains one lingering mystery surrounding the tale: where exactly the cache had been hidden. Much to the chagrin of many who spent years searching for the treasure, Stuef has opted not to reveal that critical piece of information, which will likely keep the legend of Fenn's treasure alive for all those who sought to solve the puzzle.