11 Legendary Treasures Still Out There for You to Find
Nobody grew up wishing they’d be grinding out their lives behind a desk. We dreamed of adventure, of intrigue, of being in some sort of pyramid for some amount of time in our lives with a torch. The main roadblock being, of course, the requirement of paying rent. A problem that treasure-hunting solves, as treasure can pay for many rents!
So tell your boss to suck an egg, grab a shovel and track down one of these legendary hidden treasures instead of looking at Excel for another precious moment!
The Three Brothers
Public Domain
The “Three Brothers” was named for the three massive almost-identical rubies surrounding a large diamond. Because that wasn’t glorious enough, over time, hanging pearls were added. The piece was owned and worn by an incredible amount of British royals (and one banker) through the ages, before it was sold for funds in 1645 during the English Civil War by King Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria. It was never seen again.
The Patiala Necklace
I mean, finding anything contained within even one square inch of this picture would probably set you up for a good while. If you had your pick, however, you would undoubtedly go for the centerpiece: the Patiala Necklace, made in 1925 by Cartier, who have apparently been in the expensive jewelry game for a long time. It consists of five platinum chains and a neck collar, containing 2,930 diamonds. Just because they hadn’t gone far enough, they stuck a 234.65 carat yellow diamond known as the “De Beers Diamond” on there. It was basically a straight-up half pound of diamonds and platinum. It disappeared from the royal treasury in 1948, which seems like a pretty big oopsie.
Tucker’s Cross
Tucker’s Cross is a bit of religious jewelry that’s currently lost — for the second time. It was unearthed from the ocean floor only fairly recently in 1955 by diver Teddy Tucker, who spotted the small golden cross, studded with seven emeralds, while exploring the wreck of the San Pedro. It was purchased from Tucker by the government of Bermuda, where it was found, and they held on to it, until proudly organizing a special viewing for Queen Elizabeth II. When set up, Tucker saw the cross and thought it looked off. His intuition proved correct: They realized it had been swapped with a literal piece of plastic. The real cross was never found, and the fake one, I assume, was thrown away in shame.
The Florentine Diamond
No fancy settings or accessories needed here. This missing treasure is about as simple as they come: a massive fucking diamond. The Florentine Diamond was 137 carats, or almost a full ounce, of yellow diamond majesty. The last known owners were the Medicis, and with the fall of their famous house, the diamond disappeared as well.
Montezuma’s Treasure
“Montezuma’s Treasure” feels like it’s ready to be a blockbuster movie title, no changes needed. It’s cinematic sounding enough to seem like something that was made up as an adventure game’s MacGuffin. In fact, the famous Aztec treasure is well-recorded in history. Montezuma, or Moctezuma II, was the emperor of the Aztecs when Hernan Cortes arrived in Tenochtitlan. They famously did not get along. The conquistadors murdered Aztec nobles and Moctezuma II himself, and ultimately tried to sneak away in June of 1520 with the majority of the Aztec’s massive trove of treasure. They were hunted down and killed, probably made easier by their gold-inhibited speed, and much of the treasure was lost in the fighting.
The Heirloom Seal of the Realm
The famous Heirloom Seal of the Realm, created in 221 B.C.E. in China, is a item that has more historical value than intrinsic value. It’s crafted from purportedly sacred jade, a material that’s better for storytelling than pawn shop sales. This particular piece of jade would have been used by the Emperor to imprint the royal seal, and, though there’s no record of its exact appearance, was likely a bit of jade with an ornamental handle for ease of use. It disappears from history around 900 C.E., thought to maybe have been destroyed in a fire in 937 C.E. or stolen during the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty by the incoming Ming dynasty.
The Honjo Masamune
The Honjo Masamune is another treasure that seems a little too perfect to be true. We don’t live in a JRPG, so the idea of a legendary, powerful blade feels slightly far-fetched. Not only is it very real, however, but we knew exactly where it was right up until 1945. The Honjo Masamune was considered one of legendary 13th century bladesmith Goro Masamune’s greatest swords, and received the Honjo portion of its name when General Honjo Shigenaga claimed it in battle in 1561. It passed from hand to hand over the years, with its final owners being the Tokugawa family. Where it disappears is in the aftermath of World War II, when U.S. forces occupied Japan and forced families to surrender all weapons, even if those weapons happened to be legendary katanas. The last time it was ever seen was when they dropped it off at a Tokyo police station in 1945.
The Scepter of Dagobert
Of course we have to follow a legendary sword with a legendary scepter. Between the two, you’d have everything you need to cover both a melee and ranged member of your party. Track down some enchanted armor, and you’re ready for endgame. Back in the real world, though, the Scepter of Dagobert is a piece of the French crown jewels, once displayed in the Basilica of Saint-Denis. As so often seems to happen, it was when they decided to move it that disaster struck. It disappeared on its way to the Louvre, and was never found.
The Treasure of Amaro Pargo
It wouldn’t be a list of lost treasure without at least one pirate, right? Though I’ve decided to forgo your obvious, classic Blackbeard, and instead look to a Spanish pirate by the name of Amaro Pargo. He was a real life sort of gentleman’s thief, known for redistributing his ill-gotten gains to the poor. Most of his treasure is easily accounted for: He left it to his heirs. All nice, neat and legal. What's never been found is his own personal treasure chest. The contents are apparently recorded in a book marked with the letter “D,” which has also never been found. You gotta at least give us a map, dude! Those are the rules!
The Wreck of the RMS Republic
It’s always surprising to me how hard it is to find sunken ship treasure. You’d think, especially if you knew roughly where the thing sank, it’s a pretty straightforward pick-up. Yet, despite the wreck being located, the treasure supposedly aboard the RMS Republic remains unharvested. The most significant part being a reported shipment of $25,000,000 in “double eagle” 20 dollar gold coins. Which is plenty all on its own, before you realize that $25M is only the face value of coins, each of which contains 0.9675 troy ounces of gold. Meaning their value today, even by material value alone, would be almost $2.5 billion.
The Missing Faberge Eggs
As far as something equal parts weird and insanely valuable, it might be hard to beat Faberge eggs. These eggs were created, and inherited their name, from the House of Faberge jewelers in St. Petersburg, and were beloved treasures of the Russian Tsars. According to records, there are 52 eggs in total. Only 46 of those have known whereabouts, meaning six mysterious little orbs are still hidden somewhere in the world.