French 'Golden Owl' treasure hunt ends after 31 years

Paris: A mass treasure hunt launched in France in 1993 appeared to have been solved Thursday, with the guardian of the elusive "Golden Owl" prize saying someone had finally found it.

The find marks the end of a three-decade search across France and a string of legal and financial battles over the Owl, which has inspired thousands of people to test their grey matter against riddles set by a long-dead man.

"We confirm that the replica of the Golden Owl was dug up overnight," Michel Becker wrote on a Discord forum used by would-be sleuths to collaborate on the puzzle. The forum has more than 7,000 participants.

"Don't go digging", he urged others who might think they had also worked out the answer, adding that organisers were "checking the accuracy of the solution that has been submitted".

A replica of the Golden Owl - a ten-kilo (22-pound) gold and silver sculpture encrusted with diamonds - was buried at a secret location in France in April 1993.

Anyone hoping to find it had to solve 11 riddles published in an accompanying book, "On the trail of the Golden Owl".

If found, the replica could be exchanged for the real thing - whose value was estimated at the time at one million French francs, or the equivalent of about 150,000 euros when the single currency was introduced in 1999.

The fiendishly-difficult Golden Owl trials were conceived by marketing writer Regis Hauser, who published the book under the pen name Max Valentin to avoid attention from fans of the puzzles.

He rarely appeared in public and always took care to cover his face.

Becker designed the Golden Owl sculpture which was then brought to life by a goldsmith.

He publicised the game in TV interviews - without himself knowing where the treasure could be found.

The puzzle survived challenges of its own, including the seizure of the Golden Owl itself by the liquidator of the publishing house that produced the book's third edition.

Regis Hauser and Michel Becker got the Owl back in 2009 after four years of legal battle.

Hauser himself died aged just 62 in April that year.

Becker then fought Hauser's heirs in court to gain control over the solution to the riddles, entrusted to a court baliff in Paris.

Becker tried to sell Golden Owl itself in 2014 through renowned auction house Drouot, but backed off after outrage from the treasure-hunting community.

Hauser's heirs finally allowed Becker to see the solution - stored on an old floppy disk - in 2021.

He went to the spot one night, digging up the rusted-through iron replica Owl and replacing it with a bronze one.

Additional clues provided by Becker after 2021 and cooperation by Owl trackers through the Discord platform now appear to have brought the saga safely to its end.