As an effort to promote their creme eggs, which have their peaks sales between January and Easter, Cadbury's released this hunt in January of 1984. Initially, to obtain a copy of the book, one had to purchase twelve Cadbury's creme eggs and mail in the wrappers to get your softcover copy of the book. The hunt was also available in hardcover at bookstores.
For the burial of all the eggs, creator Don Shaw was accompanied by military man Ranulph “Ran” Fiennes.
According to Evening Sentinel newspaper of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, the sixth egg to be found was The Refuge (Staffordshire), and the 5 eggs found earlier were in Northumberland (actually in County Durham, The Burning Hand), Yorkshire (“W & B”), Dorset (Cuckoo, Cuckoo), Surrey (A Child’s Dream), and Warwickshire (The Prize). An article from Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph on Mar 30, 1984, states seven have been found so far.
Due to many reports of people digging up private property, National Trust land, and other important historical sites, Cadbury dug up the final three caskets and converted to a mail-in submission process. On April 4, 1984, a large ad ran in several national papers announcing the change and new rules, the final three eggs/spreads to be found were Island Mystery, Conundrum, and A Giant's Place.
Up for Auction
As early as March 1985, eggs were up for Auction. A brief mention is made in Retford, Gainsborough and Worksop Times (March 8, 1985) that a auction for an egg “found on the Shropshire border with Wales” was expected to sell for £4,000 to £6,000. This is believed to be the egg for A Giant’s Place, though it was found fully in Wales, not on the border.
Jumping ahead 34 years, in June of 2017, Bateman’s Auctioneers & Valuers announced that in an upcoming auction a previously unknown 13th egg would be sold. Apparently Cadbury's offered this larger egg in a prize drawing only open to egg-selling retailers, not the public. Scott Gardner of The Armchair Treasure Hunt Club won it via phone during the July 1, 2017 auction for £17,200. He lovingly calls it “Humpty.” Three years later, the 13th egg sold for £31,000. Surprisingly one of the smaller 12 eggs sold for even more. The Cuckoo, Cuckoo egg sold for an astonishing £123,50 in August 2026.
