Masquerade treasure hunt golden hare sold for £82k at auction

A golden rabbit promoting a treasure hunt has sold at auction for a whopping £82,550.

In 1979, artist Kit Williams buried the handmade 18-carat gold jewellery, worth around £5,000 at the time, in Ampthill Park, Bedfordshire, with the only witness being TV presenter Bamber Gascoigne.

Mr Williams created Masquerade, a book filled with mysterious riddles pointing to the rabbit’s location, which attracted treasure hunters from around the world before it was finally discovered in 1982.

This rabbit was auctioned by Sotheby’s, having previously been sold by the same auction house in 1988.

It was buried inside a terracotta coffin in Ampthill Park and sealed with wax to avoid metal detectors.

Members of the public would phone and write letters to Mr Williams for advice on finding the treasure.

After the art book containing the clues sold out within two days, the artist toured the US and appeared on talk shows.

A transatlantic airline sold tickets for ’10-day Masquerade Treasure Tours’, where passengers were given shovels and maps of Britain.

It was revealed by a man named Dugald Thompson under the fake name Ken Thomas.

The elusive treasure hunter insisted on covering his face with a scarf and would only be interviewed from behind a screen.

This later sparked controversy when a newspaper revealed an affair between Mr Thomas and Mr Williams’ former girlfriend, who remembered a visit to Ampthill years earlier.

The golden hare, named Jack, is set with a ruby ​​eye and a body design that includes flowhead motifs, each set with turquoise.

It previously sold at auction in 1988 for £31,900 and has been in the same family ever since.

Mr Williams said: “The current owners have been good and generous custodians of the Masquerade Jewel, having agreed to place it on public exhibition at the V&A Museum and the Sydney Opera House.

“But Jack Hare is preparing to take another leap into the unknown on his unexpected discovery! I’m watching with great interest to see where he might end up this time!”

The rabbit was expected to sell for between £10,000 and £20,000.

Sotheby’s head of sales and fine jewellery, Tabitha Downer, said offers were pouring in before it sold for £82,550 in a “veritable frenzy of competitive bidding”.

He said it was bought by a UK-based private collector.