Your chance to own 2% of the Holy Grail

200605081524 Rock journalist Christopher Dawes and his friend/neighbor Rat Scabies (of the punk rock band The Damned) are on a serious quest to find the Holy Grail.

Scabies became interested in finding it after researching the "mystery of Rennes-le-Château," a town in France where a poor priest suddenly became fabulously wealthy in the mid 19th century. Rumor has it that he discovered a treasure trove which included the Holy Grail.

Last year, Dawe's wrote an excellent book about Scabies' search for the Grail, called Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail. Scabies didn't find the Grail, but he and Dawes have not given up the search. To fund their efforts, they are auctioning a 2% share of the Grail, should they find it, on eBay.

The language of the contract is excellent:

(3) If the Holy Grail manifests itself as a cup or a chalice or a bowl or some other kind of vessel for holding liquid, it is hereby agreed that:

(i) The Grail Stakeholder will be allowed one sip from the vessel of a beverage of the Grail Stakeholder's choosing, which beverage to be provided by the Grail Stakeholder at the Grail Stakeholder's sole expense. The Grail Stakeholder may thereby gain eternal life and the healing of all physical ailments. However, because the Grail Finders cannot be held responsible for the mysterious powers of the Grail and all that, the Grail Finders shall not be held responsible for any failure on the part of the Holy Grail to give eternal life to the Grail Stakeholder, or to alleviate physical ailments, and the Grail Stakeholder hereby warrants to make no claims of any kind against the Grail Finders in the event of such failure.

Link (Thanks, John!)

Reader comment: Tom says:

For those interested in all things Da Vinci Code, 60 Minutes ran a piece about it last week that, among other things, addressed the mystery of the "poor priest that suddenly became wealthy".

"…Where did the priest of Rennes Le Chateau, Bérenger Saunière, get the money to build his estate? In 1910 he was summoned to appear before the bishop's court in the local, medieval-walled city of Carcasonne."

"In Carcasonne, Sauniere was tried and found guilty of trafficking in masses. Priests are allowed to accept money for saying up to three masses a day. But what Saunière had done was to solicit and receive money for thousands of masses, which he couldn't possibly have said. In fact, he didn't even try. So the source of the wealth of the priest of Rennes le Chateau was not some ancient, mysterious treasure — but good old-fashioned fraud." Link