The lost Atari treasure, real jewel encrusted gold and silver prizes!?

[retroboy]

Sorry if this has been brought up or posted before, but has anyone seen this!? What are your thought on the lost treasure? What do you think happened to it? I had no idea Atari did something this epic!!

Just a WARNING!!! Before you watch the video there is swearing and vulgar gestures being mad so don’t watch this video at work or around kids….

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMpahE8q7mw&feature=related

[Rev]

Actually this is one of his better video, he didnt rip them too bad. And he had alot of info i never knew about.

 

Usually i cant stand this nerd.

[flammingcowz]

*face palm* I thought you had found the holy grail of atari and were showing it off.

[moycon]

Actually this is one of his better video, he didnt rip them too bad. And he had alot of info i never knew about.

 

 

Ditto.

 

That was a decent video. The guy who won the chalice is an AA member. He keeps it in a safe deposit box from what I recall.

Here is an old thread about it...

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/102667-agh-swordquest-interview-with-michael-rideout/page__view__findpost__p__1245310

 

Wow what I didn't realize was that Mike was living in GA. (Either that or I forgot) I would love to see that prize in person! I wonder if he ever has showings?

[Tempest]

The talisman was melted down but he kept the little sword from it, the owner mentioned that somewhere. You really do have to wonder what happened to the other treasures though and how come no one seems to know where they are. I'm guessing they were also melted down and used to pay off Atari's debts.

 

Tempest

[CommodoreStaffen]

Atari was shoveling whatever they had left into the metaphorical fire, and pieces totaling $100,000 wouldn't be an exception. I always assumed that Atari just melted them and sold them off when they start going under. Then again, they could of sold it off instead of melting it down, but I highly doubt it. IF they sold it off, the person who has it wasn't very public with it. This might be a hint that the collector sold it or melted it down for the scrap money. Either way, it's gone.

 

 

 

My prediction: They were either melted down ages ago, or buried underneath garbage in some collector's house.

Edited June 2, 2011 by CommodoreStaffen

[Tempest]

Didn't the Franklin Mint create the items? I wonder if they have a record of what happened to them? I'm also curious if Atari actually paid for/owned all of the items or if they were still owned by Franklin Mint and on loan to Atari until the contest was conducted.

 

Tempest

[retroboy]

That is an extremely good question, and thanks for the information everyone your helping to solve a question that might save the kingdom of nerdum

[Cebus Capucinis]

I would think the easiest way to find out would be to find out which agency insured the contests. Any promotion performed with public interest has an insurance backer -- this way, if there isn't a winner, there is still a payout done to the radio station/television station/company in question. I'd guarantee Atari had an insurance backer for the SwordQuest promotional contests as they were so heavily advertised. Find the insurance backer, you'll find what happened to the prizes. There's a high chance either Franklin Mint kept rights to them if no winner, but if this didn't happen, the insurance backer would likely have rights to the prize after that point in time (as the payout would cover the expenses of the prize, etc. in the agreement).

 

The insurance agency that backed the contest would know for sure.

[Algus]

Personally I hope the mystery is never solved. The SwordQuest games are probably some of the most interesting Atari related trivia out there lol

[Rom Hunter]

Did anyone ever notice that the sword is visible in the background of the picture of Steven Bell (eighth picture):

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-swordquest-earthworld_7687.html

 

I still believe in the "Jack Tramiel still owns them" theory.

 

Gives me hope, I guess.

 

Edited June 2, 2011 by Rom Hunter

[atarigal]

My son is 15 and thinks this story is awesome. He was telling me about it when I first got on this forum.

[Algus]

Haha probably because of the AVGN video. You said your kids were fans of him right? It IS pretty interesting and its cool that Michael Rideout is a member here. That was a fun topic to read.

[atarigal]

Haha probably because of the AVGN video. You said your kids were fans of him right? It IS pretty interesting and its cool that Michael Rideout is a member here. That was a fun topic to read.

 

Yep, I'm sure that's where he first heard about it. Although he's been into classic gaming for a while, so who knows.

[Kreeboy]

That AVGN video was one of his better videos. I knew about some of the history...but not all of it. It was pretty informative.

[SeaGtGruff]

Wow what I didn't realize was that Mike was living in GA. (Either that or I forgot) I would love to see that prize in person! I wonder if he ever has showings?

The only "showings" I've ever given were back when I got it-- I sometimes took it out with me on Friday and Saturday nights when I went to my friends' houses (what was I thinking? ), or showed it to our neighbors, and once I took it to the local university campus and showed it to my professors and classmates. Most recently, I showed it to John Hardie a few years ago. I see you're outside of Atlanta, and so is one of my sisters, so maybe one of these days I could go visit her for the weekend and get together with you to let you see it and hold it.

 

Michael

[SeaGtGruff]

The talisman was melted down but he kept the little sword from it, the owner mentioned that somewhere.

I don't recall if Steven ever actually said that, but at the FireWorld contest I chummed around a bit with Steven and four or five other FireWorld contestants who had all been in the EarthWorld contest. After I won the FireWorld contest, later that night-- after Atari took everybody to dinner in Chinatown-- I went out with Steven and the other EarthWorlders to the Fairmont, and we went up to the rotating lounge (or restaurant?) at the top. The way I remember it, we were sitting there talking and having drinks, and the only lady in the EarthWorlders group-- I want to say her name was Jackie, but my memory's hazy-- advised me to sell or melt down the chalice for the money, but keep some of the gems from it, or something like that. She said she'd given Steven similar advice, and that he'd had the talisman melted down, but had kept the little white gold sword from it as a memento. Come to think of it, I believe Steven did confirm what she said, because I remember him saying he took the talisman to a coin dealer to be appraised and melted down, and that he got only about $15,000 for it. (At that time, gold prices were falling, and the talisman was almost entirely gold, aside from the precious or semi-precious birthstones for the various signs of the zodiac). When John Hardie did his first interview with me some years later, he asked me if I'd ever seen the talisman, and if I knew what had happened to the other prizes, so I told him what I'd heard about the fate of the talisman.

 

Michael

[Tempest]

The talisman was melted down but he kept the little sword from it, the owner mentioned that somewhere.

I don't recall if Steven ever actually said that, but at the FireWorld contest I chummed around a bit with Steven and four or five other FireWorld contestants who had all been in the EarthWorld contest. After I won the FireWorld contest, later that night-- after Atari took everybody to dinner in Chinatown-- I went out with Steven and the other EarthWorlders to the Fairmont, and we went up to the rotating lounge (or restaurant?) at the top. The way I remember it, we were sitting there talking and having drinks, and the only lady in the EarthWorlders group-- I want to say her name was Jackie, but my memory's hazy-- advised me to sell or melt down the chalice for the money, but keep some of the gems from it, or something like that. She said she'd given Steven similar advice, and that he'd had the talisman melted down, but had kept the little white gold sword from it as a memento. Come to think of it, I believe Steven did confirm what she said, because I remember him saying he took the talisman to a coin dealer to be appraised and melted down, and that he got only about $15,000 for it. (At that time, gold prices were falling, and the talisman was almost entirely gold, aside from the precious or semi-precious birthstones for the various signs of the zodiac). When John Hardie did his first interview with me some years later, he asked me if I'd ever seen the talisman, and if I knew what had happened to the other prizes, so I told him what I'd heard about the fate of the talisman.

 

Michael

Ahh ok. I know I had heard that from somewhere.

 

Tempest

[Godzilla]

I used to talk to Gary Tramiel back in the day (details below,) before I knew it was any big deal. He said jack had them and Gary knew exactly what I was talking about. This was right before atari got bought out by a disk drive manufacturer and left the industry. I would think it would stand to reason that Jack still has them or has sold them.

 

Posted Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:42 AM

 

Quadrunner

 

Posts: 6,232

Joined: 23-May 02

Location:Jacksonville, Fl

 

 

well back in the jag days when i managed a game store i would occasionally talk to gary tramiel, asking him questions like 'when is breakout 2000 coming out? when is avp coming out? where is our shipment of (x)? etc.' and we would talk 2600 from time to time and he joked about the swordquest prizes jack had one time i was asking about the swordquest games continuing on the jag. and this was before i had heard about it anywhere...

[Buyatari]

I used to talk to Gary Tramiel back in the day (details below,) before I knew it was any big deal. He said jack had them and Gary knew exactly what I was talking about. This was right before atari got bought out by a disk drive manufacturer and left the industry. I would think it would stand to reason that Jack still has them or has sold them.

 

Posted Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:42 AM

 

Quadrunner

 

Posts: 6,232

Joined: 23-May 02

Location:Jacksonville, Fl

 

 

well back in the jag days when i managed a game store i would occasionally talk to gary tramiel, asking him questions like 'when is breakout 2000 coming out? when is avp coming out? where is our shipment of (x)? etc.' and we would talk 2600 from time to time and he joked about the swordquest prizes jack had one time i was asking about the swordquest games continuing on the jag. and this was before i had heard about it anywhere...

 

+1 to this.

 

A former Atari employee told me he saw them with his own eyes in recent times (well post year 2000). The items or at least one of them was on display above a fireplace on the mantle.

[CRV]

On the other hand, Leonard has denied it.

[Rom Hunter]

A former Atari employee told me he saw them with his own eyes in recent times (well post year 2000). The items or at least one of them was on display above a fireplace on the mantle.

Exactly who is this former Atari employee?

 

Can he be contacted again?

 

If his story turns out to be true, then I don't think these prizes were melted down post 2000.

 

On AGH:

Recently, it was brought to our attention by a friend, that the remaining prizes in the contest are now in the possession of Jack Tramiel, who as we all know, bought Atari from Warner Communications.

 

Edited June 4, 2011 by Rom Hunter

[Buyatari]

A former Atari employee told me he saw them with his own eyes in recent times (well post year 2000). The items or at least one of them was on display above a fireplace on the mantle.

Exactly who is this former Atari employee?

 

Can he be contacted again?

 

If his story turns out to be true, then I don't think these prizes were melted down post 2000.

 

On AGH:

Recently, it was brought to our attention by a friend, that the remaining prizes in the contest are now in the possession of Jack Tramiel, who as we all know, bought Atari from Warner Communications.

 

 

 

Well if there is some denial here then I'm not getting involved. Perhaps there is some fiscal liability that is attached with such an declaration. Obviously the person who saw it was close enough to him to see the items and I'm not going to start something between them.

[Buyatari]

double post delete

[SeaGtGruff]

On the other hand, Leonard has denied it.

Most likely they walked off with someone during the pilfering of all the buildings that weren't locked down

It's hard to believe they would have been kept in a building that wasn't locked down.

 

Michael