THE artist behind one of the world’s longest treasure hunts has launched a second tricky puzzle to try and unlock a £650,000 golden casket.
Hidden somewhere in Britain and France sit two halves of a key which when combined will crack open the historic treasure box which marked the end of a near 1,000-year conflict.
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Book illustrator Michel Becker first shot to fame when he helped create a fiendish set of puzzles in 1993 which led treasure seekers to a £250,000 golden owl buried underground.
The challenging set of riddles, based on a book titled On the Trail of the Golden Owl, was finally solved this week after a person uncovered the precious bird in France.
After lasting for 31 years, the owl hunt is regarded as one of the longest treasure hunts in history.
Not satisfied with his first remarkably tough book of riddles, Becker launched another challenging expedition in 2021.
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He managed to get his hands on a solid-gold casket which was used to commemorate the 1904 Entente Cordiale agreements between the UK and France.
It was gifted by King Edward VII to the French president at the time Emile Loubet in 1903 with the signed declaration being placed inside a year later.
Frenchman Becker rediscovered it while at an auction in 2017 and had it authenticated by jewellers who verified its historical importance and soaring value.
Dubbed the “Golden Treasure of the Entente Cordiale” Becker decided to create a similar game to the golden owl where he compiled together nine mysterious riddles.
Two books were made – one in English and one in French – with all the clues inside which point towards where the two halves of the geode crystal keys are being hidden.
Each key is said to be on either side of the English Channel inside individual chests with both being needed to finally open up the sealed box.
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The pages are made up of illustrations by Becker as well as mystery text hidden within the actual story written by Pauline Deysson.
The puzzles are all connected with the complete nine needed to be cracked before the all-important locations are revealed.
Becker and the puzzle’s creator Vincenzo Bianca said: “This is not an easy treasure hunt.
“In order to conquer it, you will need tenacity: a treasure is accessible only to the brave.”
The reason for key being split into half is to once again bring together the English and the French just like in 1904 when the Entente Cordiale agreement was first signed.
What was the 1904 Entente Cordiale agreement?
THE golden casket was given to France from the UK ahead of the 1904 entente cordiale as a sign of friendship between the two countries.
Signed on April 8, 1904, it was a series of agreements between Britain and France on issues from colonialism in North Africa to fishing rights in Newfoundland.
Many people still regard the agreement as a key reason why World War One was ultimately delayed by around 10 years due to the strength and unity of France and Great Britain.
It was never meant to be a formal alliance but rather a public show of togetherness.
The casket was wrought by Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company in London and contained a scroll signed by both nations.
A golden sculpture sat on the lid resembling a figure of Peace standing between separate representations of France and Britain with laurels.
It was gifted by King Edward VII to the French president at the time Emile Loubet.
Becker says he wanted to create his own version by making a person from both nations meet up to solve the riddles and unlock the riches of the casket.
Although Becker has made it clear that one clever person could discover both and keep the casket to themselves.
He has also told those looking to solve the puzzles that even he has no idea where the keys are.
It is unclear how much progress has been made with the riddles since Becker launched the hunt in 2021.
On the Trail of the Golden Owl
The first version of a treasure hunt book Becker helped create was the On the Trail of the Golden Owl in 1993 alongside author Max Valentin.
Those playing the game had to solve 11 clever riddles with each one unlocking a further clue about where a hidden golden owl would be.
Solving the final enigma – a twelfth made up of the other 11 – was said to reveal the exact spot where the bird was buried but no one had managed to crack it up until this week.
The owl statuette is 10 inches high and 20 inches wide, and weighs 33 lbs.
Due to the rich metals involved in creating it, many believe it is worth up to £250,000.
Despite the game makers declaring the hunt over the droves of seekers are still searching for answers to see how close they might have been to finding the owl.
Very little details of the find have been released yet – including who found it or where it was hidden.
Leading many to speculate why so much secrecy is still surrounding the search if it is officially over.
What was the Golden Owl Hunt?
THE mysterious Golden Owl Hunt focuses on the famous treasure hunt book On The Trail Of The Golden Owl by Max Valentin.
The book contains several clues and riddles leading readers to a final location with a hidden cache stored away somewhere in France.
Michel Becker also helped create the mystery as he made eleven paintings for the book, as well as the final prize, the Golden Owl statuette.
The statuette is 10 inches high and 20 inches wide, and weighs 33 lbs.
The book consists of eleven double-page spreads, each of which is a discrete riddle composed of a title, text, and a painting.
Each pair of pages is numbered with a wavelength associated with its colours, and with an owl face.
Three specific techniques to help those competing to find the golden owl were shared by Valentin shortly before his death.
They include:
- The use of maps as the reader must do something with a map, to reveal the final zone of the game. Then use a precise map of that zone to find the cache that contains the owl.
- The existence of a “mega trick” which is the key to using the sequence of eleven riddles to identify the final zone.
- The existence of a final, hidden riddle that completes the game. When a reader finds this riddle in the final zone, they will be able to utilise elements of the previous riddles to form and solve the last riddle. The decryption of the last riddle will lead to the cache that contains the owl.
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