A man hid 5 boxes across the US with more than $2 million worth of treasure inside

• Jon Collins-Black has hidden five treasure chests across the US for a public hunt.
• The chests contain valuable items like a Casascius bitcoin, an emerald, rare Pokémon cards, gold, and more.
• Collins-Black spent five years planning the treasure hunt and wrote a book with clues.

Jon Collins-Black once dreamt of finding treasure of his own. Now, he's hidden five treasure boxes in locations around the US — and he wants people to find them.

Collins-Black, a California-based musician turned entrepreneur, told BI that he made a tidy sum from early bitcoin investments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he embarked on a project: Secure a hoard of treasure, then send people off to search for it, hoping they'll enjoy the journey.

Collins-Black told BI that there are now five chests — four smaller ones and one large box — hidden across the US.

He said that none of the chests are buried or placed on private land, and reaching the boxes does not require dangerous stunts.

He wrote all the clues one needs to find these treasure chests into a book, "There's Treasure Inside." Collins-Black said finding these leads in the text will require a close reading — and a sharp but open mind.

Collins-Black secured most of the pieces of treasure at auction and through antique dealers over the last five years. There are pieces like a Casascius bitcoin — the first physical bitcoin ever made; a green Columbian emerald; a 2002 Shining Charizard Pokémon card; antiques from a shipwreck; George Washington's jelly glass, and more. BI has viewed the receipts for Collins-Black's purchases at auction.

He told BI he had a "loose budget" for the treasure's value. Based on the price he paid for the items at auction, he estimated that the total value of the stash, at press time, is between $2 and $3 million. But frequently fluctuating items like bitcoin could change the chests' worth.

"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," Collins said. "I didn't want people to go too crazy."

All five treasure chests are also puzzle boxes, Collins-Black said — but if one finds the chest, instructions are placed with it outlining how to open the boxes, so people don't have to destroy them.

Only he knows where the chests are, so quizzing his family members and his publisher won't help. He placed the boxes around the country himself, hiking over a hundred miles on his trips.

Collins-Black said he doesn't think he'll 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," Collins-Black said.

"There were definitely a couple of items where people were like, 'Are you sure you want to put that in the treasure?'" he added. "But at the end of the day, I think I'll just be excited for whoever finds it."

Collins-Black told BI that he doesn't have a favorite treasure in the lot, but he does have a soft spot for the emerald — which he calls a "beautiful" thing to look at.

Treasure hunts have long captured popular attention, from the $350 million-grossing 2004 movie "National Treasure" to geocaching, a real-world game in which people hunt for "caches" of information using GPS devices.

Art collector Forrest Fenn hid a chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables in the Rocky Mountains in 2010 — and Collins-Black set out to look for it.

Collins-Black wasn't successful in his hunt. After a decade-long search, Fenn's chest was finally found in 2020.

While Collins-Black has gone out of his way to hide the boxes, he does not want the mysteries to outlive him. In eight or 10 years, he might release more clues.

"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,'" he said. "I don't want to drag it on forever."