By Tim Binnall
The fate of the famed Fenn treasure has been decided as nearly 500 individual pieces from the massive cache of riches have been put up for auction. The somewhat surprising sale serves as something of a conclusion to an epic tale that began back in 2010 when art dealer Forrest Fenn announced that he had hidden a chest full of gold, jewels, and rare artifacts somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and that the prize was there for the taking to anyone who could decipher his 'map,' which was laid out in a poem in his memoir The Thrill of the Chase. The decade-long search, which attracted thousands of individuals, came to an end in June of 2020.
Although details surrounding the discovery were scant at first, it was slowly learned that a man named Jack Stuef had been the one to finally solve the puzzle and that the riches had been hidden somewhere in Yellowstone National Park, though the precise location remains a mystery. Another unanswered question in the aftermath of the hunt was what would become of the treasure itself. While many had hoped that the collection could somehow wind up in a place where it would be displayed to the public in its complete form, it would appear that this will not come to pass as it was announced this week that Stuef had sold the long-sought-after riches to an anonymous group known as Tesouro Sagrado Holdings, LLC, who then enlisted Heritage Auctions to sell the cache in individual pieces.
The sale, which is currently underway online and runs through December 12th, is something of a feast for the eyes for fans of the Fenn treasure as it features a staggering 476 items which were contained in the chest when it was found. Perhaps the most noteworthy piece is a small jar that has never been opened and is said to contain a 20,000 word autobiography penned by Fenn. Alongside that curious object, which has already reached a bid of $13,000, are a slew of gold coins, nearly 200 gold nuggets, and an array of other incredibly rare or precious items. One piece not included in the auction is the chest itself, which Tesouro Sagrado Holdings kept for themselves.
Treasure hunters who fell short in their search or people who simply admired Fenn's audacious endeavor from afar may feel disappointed that the riches are being scattered to the proverbial wind by way of the auction. That said, the sale does give everyone an opportunity to get their hands on a piece of the legendary cache, should they be able to afford it. Failing that, the auction house's online showcase of the riches also allows for an up-close examination of the actual contents of the treasure chest which might not have even been possible had they ended up in a museum behind glass. And now, it would seem that the only remaining mystery surrounding Fenn's treasure is where exactly it had been hidden for all those years.