Over the weekend, the number of people in the world who know precisely where Forrest Fenn hid his treasure听supposedly doubled. We know the finder was a man, from 鈥渂ack east,鈥 according to Fenn, and that he wishes to remain anonymous.听
Fenn, of course,听is the former art-and-antiquities dealer who in 2010 hid a box of treasure somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and wrote a poem with nine clues leading to its hiding place. The finder, on the other hand, is anyone鈥檚 guess.
So until we know more about where it was, who found it, and what he plans to do now, the hunt is in a maddening kind of limbo: it is both over and not, the chest is simultaneously newly found and perhaps also gone forever. Call it Schr枚dinger鈥檚 Treasure.
贵别苍苍鈥檚 听included a promise of more information and photos in the days to come, but Dal Neitzel, who runs the website Fenn used to post the message, says Fenn has now backed away from that statement, saying the treasure鈥檚 location is 鈥減ersonal and confidential.鈥 Some are anxiously waiting for more information. are basically coughing 鈥渂ullshit鈥 into their hands, saying the whole thing is a scam and the contents of his chest are ill-gotten gains.
Absent proof that the treasure was ever out there, it doesn鈥檛 take a ton of natural skepticism to feel very suspicious about what鈥檚 been going on.听And if that鈥檚 your disposition, this 鈥渁nonymous finder鈥 business reads like a convenient way to call off the hunt without having to admit that it never existed in the first place. After all, five people have died in pursuit, and hunters have started filing lawsuits claiming Fenn misled them.
But when it comes to finding valuables, anonymity isn鈥檛 all that suspicious. There鈥檚 a culture of discretion in the treasure community. Longtime hunter W.C. Jameson wrote in his memoir, : 鈥淎nnouncing a discovery often leads to negative and unwanted developments, primarily the loss of any treasure that may have been found.鈥 In other words, finders are not keepers if they make a big fuss about it.
In this case, the problem with telling everyone about the location of 贵别苍苍鈥檚 treasure is that there鈥檚 a good chance it doesn鈥檛 legally belong to the person who found it. It varies by state, but in general, treasure found on private property belongs to the land owner, not the finder. Pretty much the only way to stay out of court is to negotiate the split of any findings ahead of time.听
On federal land, like national parks and national forests, treasure hunters need permits to keep anything they find, and even then you鈥檙e going to need lawyers, because 贵别苍苍鈥檚 treasure doesn鈥檛 fit into any category for which the federal government has a neat and tidy legal definition. It wasn鈥檛 鈥渓ost,鈥 鈥渕isplaced鈥 or 鈥渁bandoned.鈥 At ten years old, it鈥檚 not really from antiquity. It may not even fit the legal definition of a treasure.
鈥淭he question here is whether it鈥檚 even a treasure trove,鈥 said Ben Costello, an attorney and board member of the 1715 Fleet Society, which researches and documents the recovery of shipwrecks. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it is, because the owner is known.鈥
Property where the owner is known is supposed to go back to that original owner. We don鈥檛 have laws for gold and jewels that the owner doesn鈥檛 want back. It鈥檚 just not a situation that comes up.
But maybe Fenn thought of all this ahead of time? He won鈥檛 say.
鈥淚 would have to make the assumption that it could be legally claimed by someone,鈥 said David McCarthy, a numismatist听who handled the discovery and sale of a $10 million dollar treasure called the Saddle Ridge Hoard, in 2013. 鈥淭here are public lands where citizens of the United States can keep what they find.鈥
Assuming someone does have a legal claim to their find, the second hurdle is the tax situation, and it is daunting.
鈥淚 saw the announcement that someone found 贵别苍苍鈥檚 million-dollar treasure and I thought 鈥楧o they know they鈥檙e about to pay $450,000 or so in income taxes?鈥 says Larry Brant, a tax attorney in Portland, Oregon.
No one is sure just how much the contents of 贵别苍苍鈥檚 chest is worth, but Brant says the IRS views treasure just like any other income. The moment you find it, you owe taxes on it for that year, regardless of whether you auction it off, give it to someone, or keep it in your living room as a conversation piece.听
Then there鈥檚 the matter of state and local taxes. Just like the winner of a state lottery who has to pay taxes in that state, or an NBA player who has to file income taxes everywhere they play, treasure finders have to pay taxes wherever they find treasure. So if it was in New Mexico, that鈥檚 an extra 4.9 percent听off the top. Wyoming, however, takes nothing. Location matters.听
So, let鈥檚 say the treasure is worth a million dollars, which is what Fenn originally said it might be worth. The finder owes about half of it in taxes, and let鈥檚 say half of what鈥檚 left goes to the lawyers he鈥檒l need to sort out his claim to the property. Then there鈥檚 the Chicago woman who against both Fenn and the anonymous finder claiming he鈥檇 stolen her solve. It all adds up to an income-to-headache ratio that doesn鈥檛 look so good.听
Which brings us to the most interesting, and hopeful, reason for the finder to stay anonymous and obscure the location of the find. It came from听Neitzel, who has been running devoted to the Fenn Treasure for over nine years. His initial reaction was denial when he got the message announcing the find鈥攈e thought someone was spoofing 贵别苍苍鈥檚 email. But now he says he鈥檚 come to terms with it.听
鈥淢y main concern is that Forrest puts closure on this,鈥 he said. 鈥淧eople need to know if they were close.鈥
He says over the years, one of the ideas that people on his blog keep circling back to is the idea that if they found 贵别苍苍鈥檚 treasure, they would take a little something out for themselves, keep it quiet, then put it back where they found it, without ever disclosing the location. It鈥檚 an option that would save everyone a bunch of taxes, legal fees, and hassle. Wouldn鈥檛 it be great, Neitzel said, if the hunt were over, but the game could go on?