'X' marks the spot: Jeweler starts quest for treasure hidden across Michigan

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Washington Township — A Macomb County jewelry store owner says he has hidden treasures from his trove around Michigan and invites people to find them.

John Perri has organized the treasure hunt into five separate quests. The first is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Aug. 1 in Oakland County.

"I have buried not only my entire jewelry store but thousands upon thousands of dollars of gold, silver, diamonds and antiques in various locations in Michigan from the bottom to the upper peninsula," the president of J&M Jewelers in Washington Township wrote on a website created for the quest.

"Everything I have buried has a history and many memories attached to them that I have let go and placed in the ground for you to discover. I want families across land to experience the Quest and experience the adventure of a lifetime!"

To participate, treasure hunters must register on the site and pay $50. The prize for the first quest is two 100-ounce bars of pure silver, worth about $4,000.

Whoever finds the treasure can keep it or sell it back to Perri, he said.

Registered hunters will be given clues, maps and puzzles that lead to locations on the quest. All of the treasures Perri has hidden are "either under or next to a literal painted 'X,'” he said.

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Perri said he's been in the jewelry business for 23 years and had to shut down his store because of the state's four-month COVID-19 lock down. Media reports about a man discovering a treasure hidden in the Rocky Mountains by an art and antiquities collector inspired him to organize his own treasure hunt. He said he hid the loot himself, traveling across the state to explore.

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