The longest-running treasure hunt for a single prize has ended after more than three decades of thousands of people searching for a statue valued at six figures.
French writer and puzzle designer Régis Hauser started the search for the “Chouette d’Or,” or the “Golden Owl,” in 1993 when he published a book leading to the hiding spot of an owl statue, Newsweek reported.
The hunt, dubbed, “On the Trail of the Golden Owl,” drew tens of thousands of seekers, all looking for the item reportedly valued at around $165,000.
While a bronze replica of the owl was the one that was buried, the finder was promised the original statue made of gold, silver, and diamonds.
“We confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night, simultaneously with a solution upload to the online verification system,” announced Michel Becker, the illustrator of the search’s puzzle book, in a Thursday Discord post.
“It is therefore useless to go digging on the location you assume to be the cache. As previously announced, we are verifying the validity of the proposed solution,” Becker wrote, according to the outlet.
“Well done to the finder of the owl, huge congratulations are due,” he added. “I hope we will learn the finder’s name in due course, and finally find the answers to the clues.”
No additional details on the person who found the replica statue or where it was located were released.
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