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Friday, 17th July 2009 (1018 views)

An author who sparked a nationwide treasure hunt after slipping clues to the location of a golden amulet into one of his books has called for the artefact to be returned.

Kit Williams published Masquerade, an illustrated children's book, in 1979 and inserted clues to where he had buried the amulet, which took the form of a 22-c gold hare and was believed to be worth £4,000 at the time.

The amulet was eventually found in 1982 and was sold at auction to an anonymous overseas buyer six years later for £31,900.

Now Mr Williams has asked the current owner of the item to come forward and hand it back so it can go on public display.

Speaking to the Independent, he said: "I don't think it is in the country ... I suspect it has gone forever."

The book was a sales phenomenon when it was released, selling almost one million copies.

It has since been republished with the solution to Mr Williams's original riddle, which if deciphered correctly should have taken the reader to Ampthill Park in Bedfordshire.

 

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