Since Fenn first placed the chest in the wilderness, he has been back to the location several times. On each occasion, he placed more valuables into the chest, including sprinklings of gold dust, rare gold coins and nuggets, pre-Columbian animal figures, prehistoric ‘mirrors’ of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewellery.
Fenn previously told the Santa Fe New Mexican the chest weighed a whopping 9 kilograms, and its contents were another 10kg. But with more valuables added over time, it no doubt weighs even more now. As for how he’s feeling right now with the quest completed – Fenn said he has mixed feelings.
“I don’t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over,” he told the Santa Fe New Mexican. “I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they’ll continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries.”
Meanwhile, for those who have been following the story over the years, or even attempted to find the chest themselves, the hunt is over, with many taking to social media to share their thoughts on the extraordinary discovery. Some expressed their excitement that it had been found, while others are just eager to know where it had been hiding for all of those years.
“Holy s**t someone found it! If you live west of the Mississippi you’ve likely heard of Forrest Fenn and the almost 50 pounds of gold, diamonds, artefacts etc. he hid in the Rocky Mountains ‘somewhere’,” @RMcardsfan wrote on Twitter. While @PsychoActual commented: “Congrats to the person who beat me to Fenn’s treasure. I went last August looking. I just want to know where it was.” And @sukutner added: “That’s amazing! I’m watching the Exhibition Unknown show about it right now!”
