Man buries $1M worth of jewelry, starts large-scale treasure hunt

INQUIRER.net stock photo

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced several businesses to close down, a jewelry store owner in Michigan, United States, came up with a more exciting way to close shop — by starting a large-scale treasure hunt.

Johnny Perri, owner of the J&M Jewelers, has hidden most of jewelry from his shop and started what he calls the “Treasure Quest,” as per Fox-owned WJBK yesterday, July 15.

While the pandemic stopped him from making a living through his shop, Perri will instead earn money from selling tickets to adventurers and treasure-seekers willing to participate.

Discussing with his wife the fate of their jewelry back then, Perri in the interview recalled, “I said ‘Amy, we can take everything out and retire or we can bury it across the state of Michigan.'”

Of course, the couple went with the more daring option and traveled across the state in around four months to bury $1 million worth of diamonds, silver, gold and rare coins in several spots.

“We went through waterfalls, streams, we kayaked everywhere,” Perri noted. He shared that the spots he hid the treasure in are important to him, including those special to his life as a married man.

There is only a limited amount of tickets for each quest, which holds around $4,000 worth of treasure each. Perri said that the hunt will start as soon as he unveils the clues.

“You follow the riddle, you got a little wit, a little adventure in you, you’ll find it quick — I don’t expect it to go more than a week,” the jeweler noted.

Perri has also installed GPS devices on the treasures so he could track if anyone has moved them from their spots, according to the report.

“Giving people adventure is giving them something to believe in again, besides this COVID crap,” he noted.

Perri will be releasing the first set of clues on Aug. 1 to kick off the treasure hunt. Ian Biong/JB

RELATED STORIES:

Treasure chest hidden in Rocky Mountains finally found

Wife gets job as dishwasher at nursing home to be with husband with Alzheimer’s