the Golden Owl, searched for 31 years, has been found

The end of a 31-year quest? Michel Becker, the co-organizer with Max Valentin (deceased in 2009) of the treasure hunt “On the trail of the golden owl” announced this Thursday that the famous Golden Owl had been found.

“We confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was dug up last night, simultaneously with a solution being sent to the online verification system,” he said on Discord. “There is therefore no point in moving to dig on the location you assume to be the cache. »

A 10kg silver and gold statuette

The Golden Owl is a treasure hunt launched on May 15, 1993 and which has fascinated thousands of people since. The goal: to analyze the eleven enigmas of a book, On the trail of the golden owlto find the site where a bronze statuette of the animal is buried.

This voucher can then be exchanged for the grand prize: an owl statuette made mainly of silver with outstretched wings covered in gold and a gold mask enhanced with small rubies and small diamonds. The whole thing has a wingspan of around 50 centimeters, for a weight of around 10kg. The value of the jackpot? 150,000 euros (one million francs).

The second longest treasure hunt

This game is the second longest treasure hunt ever organized, after “The Secret” (launched in 1982, only three of twelve boxes were found). According to the organizers, more than 200,000 people embarked on the adventure.

The gold statuette is not hidden, however. She was even at the heart of a legal battle. In 2004, the publisher of the book having gone bankrupt, the famous owl was seized. After five years of procedures, the organizers were able to recover it, the Versailles Court of Appeal considering that as the game was still in progress, the reward should still be available.

The statuette was almost sold

But in 2009, Max Valentin died. Not without having transmitted the solution of the game to a bailiff.

In 2014, co-organizer Michel Becker believed that “the integrity of the game could no longer be ensured” and wanted to sell the famous statuette. Problem: as the treasure hunt was not officially finished, the new owner would have been obliged to hand it over to the person who finally found the solution. In 2017, Michel Becker was recognized by the courts as “owner of the work, until someone comes forward with his replica”. It is now done.