Quest4Treasure Archives

Being a big picture guy.... One casque was located in Chicago  (Nicknamed the second city) One casque was located in Cleveland ( ??) One casque is probably in Houston (Second largest city in Texas) And if I can switch my argument and feed into my detractors and decide to look at Pimlico as opposed to Churchill Downs (It would be the second race of the triple crown) Others, or is this just making the facts fit the crime?

Trohn wrote:: One casque is probably in Houston (Second largest city in Texas) Actually, Houston is the largest city in TX.  FWIW, I think if you combined Dallas & Fort Worth, they'd still be smaller than Houston.

There goes that big picture:)

My understanding was that there was an overall puzzle that had to be solved to win some amount of money when it was launched in 1982.  My theory is that the birthstone/number theme helped to order the underlying image/verse puzzles, so that the overall puzzle could be solved.  Too bad we can't get our hands on some of the original advertising for the book.  It might give us some more information.

One thing I have been using as a guide, is the back cover of my atals. The one that shows general distances between major citites within the US. All of our target cities should be represented by a dot within a circle.  While this only narrows it down to about 200, I think maybe this guide would helps us pin point a Canadian city because we know one casque is buried north of the border. As a final general thought along this, a century of freedom from May 1913 was in fact close to the end of the War of 1812 which does have monuments in a few of these Canadian cities represented.  If this topic should have been placed elsewhere, just consider me disorganized.

THEMES huh?  hmmmm, take a look at this: http://portfocus.com/united_states_america/index.html now consider these: - Chicago (found) - Cleveland (found) - Houston (as good as confirmed) - Milwuakee (pretty darned solid) - Boston (seems pretty obvious for V3) - New Orleans (pretty darned solid) - San Francisco (P1 screams SF) - Charleston (P2 solid) that is 8 of the 12 casques.  The only one that bothers me is V11 - seems so obviously to be pointing to Manteo/Roanoke Island NC but that is not a port city.  The nearest port cities in NC are Morehead City & Willmington (both quite far down the coast).  Traveling up the coast you come to Norfolk VA.  Could we be wrong on the Wrights?  I highly doubt it.  The Ports seem too present to merely be coincidental as well tho.... what to do?

Or how about this theme... Grant Park Houston Zoo Churchilll Downs who was the Cleveland Memorial for??

fox - you left out St. Augustine. Both Roanoke and St. Augustine were sites of *very* early European colonization, so I don't see them as out of place at all.

fox wrote:: The only one that bothers me is V11 - seems so obviously to be pointing to Manteo/Roanoke Island NC but that is not a port city. I think you missed my point with the "port city" theme.  It's not ports as in import/export trade centers, but ports of entry for *imigrants*, places where people (and The People) entered this continent.  Roanoke was practically the first point of entry for European settlers (not explorers), it is famous specifically as a colony, and thus fits the theme perfectly.  Similarly, Salt Lake City was founded by a group of people looking to start a new settlement.

Ah yes, thanks for clearing that up FB & Cat.  I knew the ports were meant for immigration purposes but it appears the website i listed is for import/export. Yes indeed, both S.A. & Roanoke sure do fit after all. I really believe that this theory was intended by BP...which leaves out anywhere in KY Mr. Trohn.  But by all means, keep plugging away.  It will make your find that more enjoyable when I add in a big I Told You So with pix of the casque.

Trohn wrote:: Or how about this theme... Grant Park Houston Zoo Churchilll Downs who was the Cleveland Memorial for?? FOUND - Chicago IL = Grant Park - Cleveland OH = Greek Cultural Gardens DARN GOOD LEADS - Houston TX = Herman Park FAIRLY SOLID IDEAS - P1 = San Francisco - likely in Golden Gate Park - P2 = Charleston SC - P6 = still like FL - Maybe St. Augustine? - P7 = New Orleans LA - P10 = Milwaukee WI - P12 = NYNY ? - V3 = Boston MA - V11 = Roanoke VA * too bad we can't nail a down a P for either of these and make life a whole lot easier for us.

Fox - If I were you I would move Milwaukee, Charleston, and Roanoke past DARN GOOD LEADS into DARN NEAR CERTAIN . V11 goes with P3; if I had a reputation, I would stake it on it ("the land near the window"). As for P1, I still think the evidence for Golden Gate Park is flimsy. My money is on the Coit Tower area. Don't forget the cool finds during Voltaire's excursion.

Keep in mind, we have one casque buried in Canada.. somewhere... My leanings are on P12. And V9.

Are there links between casque locations that may lead to future discoveries? I spoke with someone not involved in our hunt, but who speculated that casque locations may all lie in parks that were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture. As it turns out, Lake Park in Milwaukee was designed by Olmsted. Olmsted also had a hand in designing Grant Park in Chicago (which was formerly known as Lake Park, believe it or not!), and his firm designed the Cultural Gardens in Cleveland. As far as I can tell, Olmsted had nothing to do with the Elizabethan Gardens or Roanoke Island in general, but still, the Olmsted connections are thought-provoking.

"Hermann Park officially opened in 1914 after George Hermann's donation of 285 acres to the city and the purchase of 122.5 acres by Houston Mayor Ben Campbell. The park's master plan was designed by St. Louis architect George Kesler. After his death in 1923, the Kansas City firm of Hare & Hare carried out the original project, adding the zoo, golf course, Miller Theater and the Sam Houston Monument, which was erected two years later. " wilhouse

F.L.O. designed the award winning park system of Louisville, but not Churchill Downs proper. F.L.O. designed Prospect Park in Brooklyn, as well as Central Park - which we are not considering. Washington DC is an obvious. Fairmont Park in Philadephia is an Olmstead, which buffets the Art Musuem, an extensive collection of Armor.

And this... http://www.architectureweek.com/2005/0921/news_1-1.html My belief for V7/P7

www.nps.gov/frla/joblist has information about The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm, 1857-1950 by Charles E. Beveridge and Carolyn F. Hoffman.

Or better yet: www.olmsted.org with links to "Find an Omsted Park Design in Your Area" and then to "Olmsted Research Guide Online" or ORGO.  We can plug in specific cities.  For example, I found St. Louis: Forest Park there.  (OK, some hopeful thinking on my part.)

Dunes West, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina has landscaping designed by Federick Law Olmstead. Just south of Fort Moultrie I believe.

Lions and tigers and bears! Or just lions... Image 2 (Charleston): Image 3 (Elizabethan Gardens): Image 4 (Grecian/Italian Cultural Gardens): Image 5 (Chicago Art Institute): Image 8 (Houston Children's Zoo): Image 9 / Verse 2 (Forest Park, St. Louis): Image 10 (Milwaukee, Lion Bridge): Image 11 (Boston Public Library): Hmmm...

If I told you I wasnt intrigued, I'd be lion

ugggh!!!

FWIW, I ran across this lion at the Elizabethan Gardens and didn't see it in FB's list above:

fox wrote:: If I told you I wasnt intrigued, I'd be lion haha Fox ya had to go there! these lion pictures are soo pretty

hey, I wasn't sure where to put this, so it's here. http://www.fact.org/wfc2006/hotel/index.htm World Fantasy Convention 2006, Austin Tx, November 2-5 Artist Guest of Honor:  John Jude Palencar I'm thinking of going.  If we get a quorum, we need to meet. Here's a blurb: John Jude Palencar Artist and illustrator, John Jude Palencar, is known throughout the world for his distinctive, ethereal style and unique conceptualization. For more than 25 years he has received honors for his contributions to the field of illustration including Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators, two Gold Book Awards from Spectrum, and Best Hardcover and two best Paperback Awards from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists for three consecutive years. His work has appeared on hundreds of book covers in over thirty countries. Renowned authors, H.P. Lovecraft, Ursula LeGuin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Octavia Butler, Stephen King, Charles deLint and Christopher Paolini are but a few. TIME Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic Magazine and Television, and the Philadelphia Opera have employed his artistic talents for their publications and productions. Most recently, his cover paintings for Eragon and Eldest, by Christopher Paolini, has appeared on the New York Times Childrens Best Seller List for the past year. An influence on the young prolific author, Christopher Paolini named Eragon's birthplace; "Palancar Valley" after John Jude (see chapter three - Eragon). He has been a featured artist in IDEA Magazine in Japan and enjoys an on-going artist-in-residence program in County Kerry, Ireland. There, his paintings were included in a special exhibition entitled, "Images of Ireland", held at the National Museum in Dublin. He also donated his work to raise funds for the Cill Rialaig Art Project, an international artistÕs retreat at the 6th Annual Ambassador's Golf Classic held in Waterville, County Kerry, Ireland. Besides being an active artist and illustrator, he has served on the juries of several international art competitions. His work was also featured in an exhibition entitled, "As Seen From Ohio: Nine Illustrators", at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Argentina, The Spectrum Retrospective Exhibition held at The Society of Illustrators Museum of American Illustration in New York city and a recent solo exhibit at the Laguna College of Art & Design in Laguna Beach, CA.. John Jude also has participated in dozens of group exhibitions at colleges and universities throughout the country. His paintings are in numerous corporate and private collections in the United States and abroad. For more information on the artist please visit: www.johnjudepalencar.com A 2007 calendar of John's work will be available exclusively from Barnes & Noble as a well as a book titled: Origins - The Art of John Jude Palencar published by Underwood Books (available late 2006). wilhouse

Well... that's one book I'm definitely going to buy. Wilhouse - if you go, please ask him if we will ever be able to purchase prints of the 12 paintings from The Secret .

Great idea FB.  I myself would love to have framed copies of some {all would probably cost a fortune} of the Pix from The Secret They would look great next to my framed 1997 cover of the Miami Herald from the annual Miami Herald Tropic Hunt put on by Dave Berry (my wife & I had a blast) and my framed A Fairy Story by Stephen Parkes.  One day I will add illustrations of A Treasures Trove as well as countless other hunts I have laying around. The more the merrier

Has anyone considered World Fairs??! In the United States? For the location cities? I know there was not one in cleveland, but I've noticed a bit of pattern with some of the other cities.

Wilhouse, I'm only a few hours away from Austin (up here in D/FW) so I could probably make it.  It'd be great to meet some fellow Q4T'ers.

kingwilson wrote:: Has anyone considered World Fairs??! In the United States? For the location cities? I know there was not one in cleveland, but I've noticed a bit of pattern with some of the other cities. I've thought about this as a theme, especially given the potential pun of the "Fair Folk." The 1936-37 Great Lakes Expo was in Cleveland; some people consider it a world fair. If this is a theme, it might point to Montreal as a Canadian location.

Montreal huh.... Like the Moon Gate Montreal Botanical Gardens perhaps? Nice round window....I know, it doesnt have the moon/stars a la P but hey, it is after all Moon Gate

Ack! I can't believe I forgot these guys while listing lions. I'll go back and add them... Image 9 / Verse 2 (Forest Park, St. Louis) Ya know, I started this lion theme just to be funny, but now I've got to wonder... I know lions are iconic when it comes to statuary and architecture and so forth, but the sheer number of them at key sites in this hunt surely defies the odds. But a lion theme does not make sense in the context of the book (fairies, immigration, etc.). An odd coincidence?

Can someone find and post Lion Gate, New Orleans Just West of the Preservation Hall.

FWIW, Parc du Mont-Royal in Montreal has this lion at the base of the monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier:

OK, we can count World Fair connections out.  Chicago had two.  One in 1893 at Jackson Park, and one in 1933 at McCormack's Place. Grant Park had none.  Unless you'd like to locate cities with World Fairs and make that a connection, without actually tying to where the exact location of the casque is.  (the 67 in image nine does not relate to this thread, but maybe significant for that one solve) edit:  Jackson Park=Olmsted.  Busy guy.

A lion in City Park - part of the Peristyle Jambone located. Image 7 (City Park, New Orleans)

First off, I am (admittedly) a newbie. I found out about this thing two days ago, so if this has come up before in depth and I didn't see the post, I am sorry. After thinking about this over the past day or so, I have to say that I completely agree with what Intrigued said on the first page of this topic...I think there is a "bigger picture" here than just these 12 puzzles we are dealing with, and I believe that there is (or was, at one time) a bigger treasure to be found. There are three reasons why I feel this way. Number 1: The title of the book. What exactly is the "secret"? It doesn't really make sense in the context of these puzzles. We are told that each picture/verse will lead to a jewel, so that isn't really a secret. The answer to each of these puzzles is unknown, but then I would think that the word "secrets" (more than one, with an "s") would be more appropriate if that was the reasoning for the title of the book. I don't think that BP would go through all the trouble of writing this magnificent book, only to give it some off-the-top-of-his-head title that doesn't really make sense. So...what exactly is this solitary "secret"? In my honest opinion, it's the fact that these puzzles somehow add up to lead us to an even bigger treasure. Figuring out just how they add up is the big secret. Number 2: The placement of the chosen cities. More specifically, two of these cities. With the entire continental U.S. and Canada at his disposal, why on earth would BP bury a treasure in Chicago and then bury another one in Milwaukee...less than TWO HOURS away from each other? This has always felt somehow "off" to me, like there was a reason he *had* to bury them in these spots. Are the placements of the casks a key to unlocking the final secret? Number 3: The unused clues in the pictures, and recurring themes. There are a lot of recurring themes in both the pictures and the locations where the casks are. There are the blue auras and the flower/jewelry connections in the paintings, the fact that time figures into a lot of the paintings, and others. And there are these things that keep popping up in the locations, like tigers/lions or Abraham Lincoln.  It just feels to me like these things are there for a specific reason, but there are like partial components to a code that hasn't been broken yet. Along these lines, there is something about the lion picture (the one with all the numbers in its mane) that makes me wonder if this isn't very important to the big picture, much like the "Issac Newton" picture was to "Masquerade". And, even though I could be totally wrong about this (and probably am), it almost feels to me like I remember reading somewhere, all those years ago when the puzzle first came out, that there WAS some sort of bigger prize to be found. Maybe I am confusing it with some other puzzle-type book, but I can't be sure. I was 12 when this book first came out, and I was always fascinated with these things (i.e. "Masquerade", "Treasure: ISOTGH", and many others, including some jigsaw puzzle/book puzzle from the late 70's or early 80's that nobody else remembers). Is it possible that there was something written on all the casks/keys that could be put together to lead the way to a final destination, or that the cities with casks could somehow be connected (either geographically or thematically) to point the way to a big prize? And, most importantly, *IS* there even a bigger prize to be found? Is it buried somewhere, or was it some answer to a riddle that we had to contact BP with in order to win it? In my heart, I feel like there was something bigger. Just like the twelve months add up to make a year, I think these twelve pictures added up to make something bigger than just themselves. But with the passing of time, I think that this is most likely one secret that will never be revealed. Any thoughts and or/opinions?

(I picked an old thread to bump) Remember our favorite landscape architect?  There might be something familiar on television this weekend: "Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America" This documentary premieres on PBS this weekend (Friday 9pm but probably runs at other times on your local affiliate stations)

thanks, here it is on my channel, you may have to choose your ch. nothing sticks out on 1st view, will watch a couple more Xs http://video.pbs.org/video/2365197253/