They say that sometimes the true treasure lies in the journey itself, rather than the end result. This certainly proved to be true for a museum in Regina, Canada, where a curator and thousands of people faced a unique challenge that lasted for years: unlocking a century-old vault to uncover its hidden contents.
The story began in the year 2000, when the museum received a vault that dated back to the early 20th century. The vault, with an estimated value of only around $1,000, had remained unopened for more than 30 years. Museum curator Rob Deglow believed the vault might contain old company documents, coins, or stamps. However, due to the difficulty of unlocking it, Deglow turned to the internet for help. He posted on Facebook, even appealing to safecrackers and locksmiths to assist in cracking the code. The post went viral, drawing thousands of responses from people across the country who claimed to know the combination, yet none of their attempts succeeded.
After numerous failed efforts, a traveling businessman from Ottawa showed up at the museum, eager to lend a hand. He spent five hours listening to the clicks of the lock mechanism, managing to decipher half of the combination. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to figure out the rest and left empty-handed. However, the challenge had intrigued him so much that he returned days later for another attempt. This time, he successfully cracked the entire combination, and together with Deglow, they opened the vault door.
But just when they thought the challenge was over, they discovered a second door inside, which required a key to unlock. This meant a new puzzle had begun. Refusing to give up, the two men sifted through about 40 old keys stored in the museum, finally finding a long, flat key that fit the keyhole. Although it wasn’t a perfect match, it worked well enough to unlock the second door.
What they found inside was quite surprising, but not in the way they had hoped. The vault contained nothing more than a paperclip, estimated to be at least 50 years old. Despite its age, it was no different from any ordinary paperclip found today. While the discovery was far from a treasure, Rob Deglow remarked that the real reward had been the challenge itself—the excitement of the search, the engagement with the public, and the journey of trying to solve the mystery.
