National Treasure, Meerschaum Pipe & Box

replica movie prop

This historical artifact held the first clue in a series of clues in unravelling a legend of a treasure beyond all imagining. A treasure that had been fought over for centuries by tyrants, pharaohs, emperors, and warlords. Every time it changed hands it grew even larger. And then suddenly, it vanished and didn't reappear for more than a thousand years, when knights from the First Crusade discovered secret vaults beneath the Temple of Solomon. The knights who found the vaults believed that the treasure was too great for any one man - not even a king. They brought the treasure back to Europe and took the name "the Knights Templar". Over the next century they smuggled it out of Europe and they formed a new brotherhood called the Freemasons, in honour of the builders of the great temple. War followed, and by the time of the American Revolution, the treasure had been hidden again. By then the Masons included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere. They knew they had to make sure the treasure would never fall into the hands of the British. So they devised a series of clues and maps to its location. Over time the clues were lost or forgotten, until only one remained - and that clue was entrusted to a young Thomas Gates by Charles Carroll. The clue was an old piece of scrap paper, which had written on it, "The secret lies with Charlotte." Charlotte turned out to be the name of a great sail ship, and on that ship lied the next clue, which was this "Meerschaum Pipe" contained within this "Pipe Box".