The house of Onyx has some great jems!
http://www.houseofonyx.comNo
kidding. These people get the best stuff.
I’ve delt with them in the past.
I was thinking more on the line of the “Honey-Do-List”.
😆

Unknown

Unknown:
……burying other casques for “The Secret II” ?

I sent an email to B Priess – this was his reply (cut right from the e-mail, verbatum):
“No edition sdheduled.sorry”

I am pleased to inform you that I have an appointment scheduled with Mr. Preiss at his office this week, to finally get the jewel.  Siskel will be coming as well.  I will of course do my best to remind Mr. Preiss about all of your submissions regarding other possible solutions.  Thank you once again for all your help!

Falcon’s 2 recent posts seem to be a very reasonable summary of the situation, especially considering (as cthree said earlier) that Mr. Preiss is likely a
very
busy man.
Given the two-decade hiatus in the hunt, I could see how he’d be a little hazy on exactly what’s where.  Hopefully Egbert gets an encouraging reply.  Depending upon this outcome, perhaps we consider sending the group communication as a show of support.
Also Egbert, I stand happily corrected regarding the intertwinality
of the two issues, if it’s all in the same vault.
Kromagnum made a comment about the delivery of the jewel in the Chicago find, and that spurs me to a question for the more experienced members here:  What do we really know, in total, about the Chicago events?  I’ve found only what’s on this board, such as it is.  Does anybody know the broader story?  What happened, or who found it, etc.?

I was under the impression BP was still in NY. Falcon, do u know for sure he is not? His website still lists a NY address and  phone number.  Egbert, you talked to him, where is he?
Also, assuming he is not just deceiving me, in an email to me he once made it clear that he did NOT remember where he put all these treasures.  He even hinted that he could not remember exactly what states they were all in.  Hey guys, it was the 70’s-80’s!!
Frankly, I am not sure I buy the “can’t find the key” thing.  If one of us had a safety deposit box and had been paying for it for 22 years, and suddenly needed to get into it without the key, it wouldn’t be that hard.  Bring down the payment receipt, some ID and bang, you’re in.  (No, KRO, you aren’t going to be allowed to drill out the lock in a safe deposit box!!)
I understand that he has polaroids at his desk of the location of the sites.  However, I am sure that many of the sites look different, and that’s why he needs to get to the vault.  I agree with all of Falcon’s reasons, but none of them are acceptable when it comes to Egbert and his jewel.
The best thing we can all do is find a bunch more of these things and then he won’t have a choice!!!
wilhouse

Well, I have not given up. I am just waiting for the weather to cool down a bit to unearth the other half of the children’s zoo.
I just wish that the most likely spot I have found, which was not ruled out by my ground penetrating radar, was not under 2″ of concrete…
wilhouse

Unknown

Unknown:
PS-i wonder where hes been!?

……burying other casques for “The Secret II” ?

I bet he has been looking for a gem trader who will sell him some cheap chips of aquamarine.

LMFAO

I have been waiting for well over 2 weeks and have yet to hear back from the publisher about if I am right or not about my location.  Are they normally this slow???  Kinda curious if anyone is on the other end.  ???

I just sent him a rather firm email yesterday.  It has now been 4 months since I found the treasure.  Sending him emails from all of us sounds like a good idea.  Maybe one person can send the email, copy all of us on it, and then each of us replies to it.  That way, Byron Preiss will see lots of emails in his inbox on The Secret.

To All,
First, all of my thoughts are obviously coming from someone who lacks Egbert and wilhouse’s experience in trying to communicate with Mr. Preiss, but please consider them for what they are worth.
It seems as though we have two very separate communication issues.  First and most specifically, Egbert has unearthed the Cleveland casque and we all anxiously await to hear that he has received “fair remuneration” for his discovery.  Second and more generally, several of us have attempted communications with Mr. Preiss regarding proposed casque locations.  I believe that we would be well served to not mingle these particular issues.
Regarding Egbert’s hopes, I know that I speak for the entire board in saying that I earnestly wish to see him receive his jewel.  I believe that if the board is to involve itself in this effort, the best way would be a show of support and encouragement in a
controlled
fashion.  By this I mean perhaps a single e-mail with multiple “signatures” that we could each authorize a moderator to send.  What we postively don’t want to do is become pests, and a deluge of e-mails (or even a single one in a poor spirit) could certainly put us there.  Remember the law of unintended consequences.
Regarding written submissions for casque sites, I know that the only way we can handle this is to self-moderate.  Again, we really don’t want to become pests.  Put yourself in Mr. Preiss’s shoes on this.  Egbert has just demonstrated to him and all of us that it really is possible to get all the way through a puzzle and actually dig up a casque.  If he’s still got a positive attitued about the hunt, then why would he be inclined to “give up” the location of a casque based on a written submission, especially now?  Some of us could submit rough suggestions for the Charleston and Milwaukee casques, and perhaps Mr. Preiss would say “Yeah, you’re pretty close.  I’ll fill in the rest of the details.”
Is this what we really want?
I would suggest that the answer is no.  On the extreme case, what if he got tired of submissions and e-mails, signed onto the board, and posted all of the answers……?
We really want Mr. Preiss as much “on our side” as possible.  I don’t know whether The Secret is still important to him, or what else is, but I believe that our best course would be to convince him that we are:
– not the standard bunch of loons on the Internet
– reasonable people who appreciate his creation, and
– acting in good faith with respect to him, each other, and the spirit of the hunt.
To this end, I suggest that if there is to be a campaign, it be conducted in a fashion that ensures we are putting the right face forward.
Thank you.

Well there is definatley someone on the other end. He is just a very busy guy. i was thinking maybe we could all get together and write him an email from all of us. Tell him how much we love the book and how it is still facinating people to this day. Tell him we understand he’s busy but just want him to know thats its really important to all of us. If we get enough signatures maybe it would strike a chord. What do you think? im dying to see Egbert rewarded  at the very least.  🙂

Unknown

Unknown:
In a message dated 9/4/2004 2:05:09 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected]
writes:
from it’s safe location and have it delivered to Egbert.  We all know that that is what the fair people would want you to do!
Yours,
The Secret – Quest 4 Treasure Bulletin Board members
Now that the summer is over and I am back in NY this should not be a problem.

Okay, i got a reply from Priess today. Here it is in its entirety:
I guess a reply is better than none! At least he got our mail! Good job!  😉
PS-i wonder where hes been!?

Thank you to all who were kind enough to send emails.  I have yet to hear from Mr. Preiss, but when I do, I’ll let you know.

Sent.

Unknown

Unknown:
I sent an email to B Priess – this was his reply (cut right from the e-mail, verbatum):
“No edition sdheduled.sorry”

No edition SDHEDULED.sorry…..?  an obvious typo from a publisher….?…..hmmm.
maybe it’s a clue…..SD=San Diego   lol  ::)

Great News!  So glad to see you are finally getting your prize.  Try to get some pictures so we can all see the gem and the mystery man behind the book!  😀

Wow! That is great news!!!

Eg–
Keep your eyes open for any of the Fair Folk as you walk into their throne room.  Please take note whether they are smiling, scowling or laughing at us.

The personal details are none of my business, but I wonder if BP’s father died a sad and lengthy death.  That would account for him being so busy for so long (and excusably so).  Certainly, this hunt would be low on ihs list of priorities.  (Although it is understandably high on our list, my own included.)

Unfortunately, B.Preiss’ failure to deliver the jewel and failure to respond to treasure site proposals ARE intertwined.  I am sure that he would have to look in the vault before he is able to compare anyone’s proposed solution to the actual solution.  All of the jewels are in a bank vault, together with all of the answers and pictures of the treasure sites.  So, until he gets to the vault, no one gets a reply.
I believe several people have already written to B.Preiss many times, and may have become pests in the process, regarding “hints.”  To my surprise, they actually received answers from B.Preiss (at least at first).  I don’t think that actually proposing a solution to B.Preiss is harassment.
Just my thoughts.

Egbert, you are right on as usual. I am sure BP hasn’t got to the vault, and so can not get your jewel or answer questions on proposed sites.
I honestly believe he will do both.  Once he gets to the vault, I believe he will respond to photos of proposed sites.  I am not convinced merely describing the location will be enough. I say that because I did that, and he simply responded by telling me to send him a photograph, which I did (and have not heard back in about 2 months).
I do not believe in pestering him, and have not bugged him since.  I do not believe sending him individual or group emails is going to get him to the vault any sooner.
Regardless, I believe only Egbert has a legitimate reason to be upset.  The rest of us will get an answer after Egbert gets his jewel.
If we can figure out a way to send BP an email from all of us protesting the fact that Egbert has not gotten his jewel, I am in.
Perhaps BP is simply waiting for some more of us to find some jewels so he can do some one stop shopping…LOL
wilhouse

I fully agree with Wilhouse and Egbert.  If anyone has a reason to be upset it would be Egbert for not recieving his gem as of yet.  I believe they are right in that we will hear from the publisher when he gets to the vault and retrieves the answers.  I was just curious if it was always this slow in getting responses.  I see now that maybe he is just going to go there and take care of all of us at once or so we could only hope for that to be the case.  I personally do not like to be a pest so I think that waiting is the best.  Time will tell.

Email is the communication of today.
How long do you take to send a simple reply to a legit message from someone?
Unless I’m away on vacation I always reply immediately.
Personally I do not think he is getting a pletuara of emails regarding The Secret.
A timely response is just the way it is today.

Pine-Tree,
You would make an excellent lawyer or judge. ( if you aren’t one already)
I vote for you to master any organized group communication with the publisher and or their affiliates.
This has me really guessing if the first gem was actually awarded to that person(s).

I understood the vault/delay thing to be several issues.
1 he is on the west coast and the Safety-deposit box is on the east coast
2 he is currently unsure where he put the key to the Safety deposit box
3 he wasn’t going to make a special trip to New York just to open the box- It would need to wait til a business trip took him that way.
4 If he is actually considering re-publishing the book, He might not want a whole lot of progress to happen til the book comes out.
Not saying this is good or bad, just what I understood to be happening.
Matt Sparks

oh and the have to look in the vault for the solution, never rang quite true to me.
If you created all the clues and then flew around the country with a shovel burying casques, what are the odds you would not remember with extreme clarity -each casque/puzzle twenty years later?   pretty low I think…
So if he does remember all the locations (which Im sure he does)
Then I suspect He really is just trying to stick to his standard of only responding to a picture of a found casque….
he indicated before – he was no longer accepting the solution form from the book and would only respond to actual finds…
Which seemed fair enough to me.
I suspect an email deluge would simply make it harder to contact him when an actual find is made.
He’s made it clear – he doesn’t give hints.
I think we should just leave him alone unless we actually find one. – except for egbert who has a valid reason to contact him.

Good points Maltedfalcon.
I thought B. Priess was still headquartered in NYC.
Knowing now that he is with a publisher in CA, it makes sense about taking the trip to the east coast.
I sure hope he found the vault key!
Maybe that is the hold up. He would have to pay to get the lock drilled and replaced. Proberly would cost as much as the jewel is worth  😮

Maybe the fair people kept him busy with other things this summer.  😛