Artifice Traditional Cache
Hidden : 12/30/2015
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

ar·ti·fice - ˈärdəfəs

noun - clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others.  outright fakery

synonyms - trickery, deceit, deception, duplicity, guile, chicanery 

For reference purposes, the definition of art, according to Merriam Webster is:

 something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings.

 

These were created with imagination and most importantly, skill:

Pietà, by Michaelangelo Buonarroti in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

 

Mercy: David Spareth Saul's Life, by Richard Dadd, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California

 

The original Artifice has been demolished. It was a hodgepodge of metal painted green, white and rust. So the geocache was moved to Artifice 2, which was a group of large, rusty iron boxes on the lawn. That was torn down, I hope by my making fun of it as artifice. Iron Man is Artifice 3, bad as it is, the most "artistic" of the Artifice Trio. See pictures of original Artifice and Artifice 2 below.

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Website showing Insanely Expensive Artifice Legacy Note — The Artifice Effect Over the years, Artifice has collected 14 favorites — a staggering number in a county where the statistical mode is zero and the average cache barely scrapes a handful. But the real legacy isn’t the favorites. It’s the fallout. Three separate “art installations” once stood here, each more unintentionally comedic than the last. Students began bringing them up in art classes. Professors grew uncomfortable. Discussions followed. Administrators noticed. And one by one, each Artifice was quietly removed from the landscape. Coincidence? Maybe. But when a geocache becomes a campus case study in “what not to do,” you start to wonder. If Artifice taught anything, it was this: When fakery is exposed, lessons are learned — top to bottom. And so the trilogy ends, not with applause, but with a clean lawn and a knowing smile.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vafvqr gur oynpx ubyr rlr uvtu.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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