Michigan jeweler, bored amid coronavirus, closes up shop, buries inventory and sells treasure hunts
J&M Jewelers owner Johnny Perri said he got the idea after reading about New Mexico antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Michigan jeweler, frustrated with the coronavirus pandemic and looking for ways to support himself and keep busy, decided to shut down, pack up his inventory, and bury about $1 million of it around the state – in order to sell treasure hunts instead.
Johnny Perri has been a jeweler for most of his life – learning the trade from his father and running a family business in Washington Township for more than two decades, according to his website.
But the COVID-19 pandemic stifled his business, and he was “going stir crazy” at home amid the coronavirus shutdown, “anxiously wanting to do something but with nothing to do.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Then, he said, he saw a news report about someone having finally found the infamous Forrest Fenn treasure – a literal chest full of gold that Fenn, a New Mexico antiquities dealer, purportedly hid in the Rocky Mountains a decade ago.
In this July 4, 2014 photo, Forrest Fenn poses at his Santa Fe, N.M., home. (Luis Sanchez Saturno/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)
An anonymous treasure hunter dug it up last month, according to Fenn, although skeptics have questioned whether the entire thing was a hoax.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Either way, the story gave Perri the idea to bury his own treasure – a million dollars' worth of inventory taken off the shelves of his own shop, J&M Jewelers.
“What Mr. Forrest Fenn really wanted is what I found to be most unmistakably true,” Perri wrote on his website. “It was getting off the couch and out of the house and adventuring outdoors.”
So with Amy, his then-fiancée – whom he recently married – he set about burying hoards of treasure in “woods, rivers, streams, mountains and waterfalls.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We went through waterfalls, streams, we kayaked everywhere," he told Fox 2 Detroit. "As soon as I release the clues the race is on.”
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The clues are part of the hunts, which he calls “treasure quests.” They require a pre-purchased ticket and start at a specific date and time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“You follow the riddle, you got a little wit, a little adventure in you, you'll find it quick,” Perri told Fox 2. “I don't expect it to go more than a week.”
Whoever finds the treasure first has the option of keeping it or selling it back to Perri at spot value. Prizes are currently worth about $4,000.
And “X” marks the spot – literally. He said he painted an X above, alongside, or below each treasure – in part to prevent hunters from destroying property or nature with unnecessary digging.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I have buried not only my entire jewelry store but thousands upon thousands of dollars of gold, silver, diamonds & antiques in various locations in Michigan from the bottom to the upper peninsula,” Perri wrote on his websites. “Everything I have buried has a history and many memories attached to them that I have let go and placed in the ground for you to discover.”
Although, he hinted, the prizes might not always be buried – they could be otherwise hidden or even hanging from trees.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The first quest kicks off on Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. ET with a prize of two 100-ounce bars of .999 silver – and tickets have already sold out at $50 per team of two.
A second is scheduled for two weeks later, with future dates not yet announced.