Mongolia may be the ultimate dumping grounds for buried treasure. Of course there is Chingis’s Tomb, which is supposed to contain all kinds of loot and for which people have been Searching for Decades, if not centuries, to no avail. Then there’s the treasure of Baron Ungern-Sternberg—according to legend some three tons of gold looted from temples in Mongolia—which is supposed to be buried up on the Minj River in Töv or Khentii Aimag. And of course the tons of statues, thangkas, and other artwork and valuables from monasteries which was supposedly hidden away in caves, buried in holes, and otherwise concealed from the communists during the anti-Buddhist campaigns back in the 1930s. Rumors about large caches of this stuff being found continue to surface down to the present day. And don’t forget Danzan Ravjaa’s Treasure, which was buried in the Gobi and continues to reappear amidst great fanfare.
Now comes word that yet another treasure is buried in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. See On the Trail of the Russian Crown Jewels.
The treasure is in the middle of the Gobi Desert . . . that really narrows it down. But wait! She has a map. Or had a map:Socialite Patte Barham, scion of a pioneering L.A. family, is intent on uncovering the crown jewels of the czar of Russia. She says they're buried in the Gobi Desert . . .
She's navigated the world of Los Angeles' elite for eight decades—weekending at Hearst Castle at San Simeon with William Randolph Hearst, riding horses with friends at her family ranch above the boulevard that bears her father's name, partying at posh gatherings from Newport Beach to Beverly Hills. She is also a former war correspondent who filed reports from foxholes at Korea's infamous Pork Chop Hill and is co-author of investigative books about the controversial deaths of Marilyn Monroe and legendary Russian "mad monk" Grigori Rasputin. Now Patte Barham says she's ready for the biggest challenge of her life: uncovering the lost crown jewels of the czar of Russia.
It's a quest some believe is as fanciful as the legend surrounding the artifacts -- but Barham is having none of that. The diamonds, Faberge eggs, imperial Russian crowns and tiaras, jewel-encrusted gold picture frames and opera-length strands of pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds are hidden in seven coffins in a hole 7 feet square and 10 feet deep in the middle of Mongolia's Gobi Desert, she contends.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your Hummers! The Search is on!Shortly before his death in 1960, Barham says, her stepfather handed her a sealed envelope containing a map that showed exactly where the treasure was hidden. Embittered to the end by the Russian royal family's execution, he asked that she not do anything until the Russian government admitted to the slayings of the Romanovs and recognized them with a state funeral. That occurred in 1998. But soon after, the hand-drawn map mysteriously disappeared. Although Barham has searched her nine-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot mansion for it without success, she insists she has memorized the jewels' hiding spot. Now, the energetic dowager is determined to see the trove recovered. "They should be returned to the Russian people," Barham says of the czar's treasure. There are those who doubt that these priceless jewels still exist and whether Barham has any shot of finding them if they do. Some experts on Russian history, while praising Barham's passion for the project, question whether she has all her facts right. A few years ago, she tried to get the Discovery Channel interested in partnering with her to search. But the deal fell through when she could not produce the map. Pointing to a copy of a circa-1916 map of Mongolia, she is certain she can find the treasure. "It's there," she says.
Patte Barham. She’s gearing up for the Gobi.
