History Main / WorthlessTreasureTwist

** A variation in the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E116OfLateIThinkOfCliffordville Of Late I Think of Cliffordville]]." Corrupt CEO Feathersmith makes a DealWithTheDevil to go back to 1910 with less than $1500 and rebuild his empire from scratch. Feathersmith uses the majority of his cash to buy up 1400 acres of land and as soon as the papers are signed, crows to the owners on how the land sits on top of a massive oil field and they've just given away millions of dollars. He's thrown when they respond they already knew that but aren't sure why Feathersmith is so happy as the oil is a mile underground. Too late, Feathersmith realizes that in 1910, the technology to drill that deep won't be invented for nearly 30 years and thus he's spent nearly all his money on land that is, basically, worthless. Feathersmith could have held onto the land but his impatient nature refuses to let him wait so long. More importantly, he realizes too late that while the Devil agreed to make him [[ExactWords look younger]], he's still internally a 75-year-old man and won't live long enough to strike oil. Feathersmith ends up selling the land to a resident in order to get the money to buy a ticket back to the present. That resident keeps the land, reaches the oil, and ends up becoming a wealthy tycoon...[[LaserGuidedKarma with Feathersmith now a janitor at his company.]]
** Another example occurs in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E60TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]." Four thieves who've stolen a cache of gold put themselves into suspended animation. Upon waking up in the distant future, they fight/betray each other over it only for the viewer (the last of the gang dies of exhaustion before getting a ride) to find out gold is worthless in this new future (because it can be manufactured).

* In the [[TheTeaser Cold Open]] for an episode of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Jake receives an inheritance of one million dollars worth of stock... for Blockbuster Video[[note]]Blockbuster Video was once THE go-to place for rentals, but it has steadily declined in an era where it has to compete with streaming services such as [=RedBox=] and Netflix.[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'': Downplayed with the treasure hunt sidequest. What’s the reward for finding every clue and digging up the treasure? A cool sword? More gold than you knot what to do with? Nope… It's just a FryingPanOfDoom. Granted, it has the most augment slots of any weapon in the game, but still, why would anyone bury a frying pan as a treasure?

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}''. During a murder investigation, Castle and Beckett find a cellar from the prohibition era that still holds a large number of whiskey bottles. While this seems like an anti-climax, Castle points out that this particular whiskey is worth a fortune in the present day and ample motive for murder.

** The end of one sidequest chain involves recovering a treasure from a chest with a level 99 lockpicking check [[labelnote: note]] for reference, the average field skill check in the game will be around 2-5; a PhantomThief NPC has to open the chest for you[[/labelnote]] that's surrounded by a bunch of powerful monsters. It contains a dried mushroom.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' Grandpa Max sets out to find the Sword of Ekchuah in a Mayan temple. They fight off Enoch and his forces constantly throughout the episode and even a Mayan guardian alien-type thing. At the end, however, [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner the sword turns to dust as soon as Enoch touches it]]. It's then {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Max who jokes that "that's what happens when your weapon is 5,000 years old".

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'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]]; only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode "Raise the Oozy Scab", Jimmy and company use Jimmy's newly-built deep sea exploration vehicle to find a pirate treasure. In the end, it turns out to just be a bunch of saltwater taffy. Even though his report at least got an A+, Jimmy is still severely disappointed and he [[HeadDesk repeatedly bashes his head against the chest in frustration]].

* The web game ''VideoGame/PiratesOfTheStupidSeas'' is pretty much ''entirely'' about this trope. It stars Captain Stinkbeard, a pirate on a neverending quest to find treasure of moderate value. Every time you find a treasure chest on an enemy ship, it ends up containing something crappy, like beet-flavored pudding or a collection of oven mitts. At the end of the game, Stinkbeard and his three rival captains battle each other to see who gets to claim the ultimate treasure of Harpy Island, which turns out to be a love card. Nobody is happy about this.

* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': after a harrowing trip, Tripitaka and company finally receive the scriptures they were questing for, only to open it and find out they were blanks. Fortunately, this inspection happened not far from the reward givers, so Trip (or rather, Wukong) immediately went back to lodge a complaint...turns out the assistant in charge of the scriptures, miffed that he didn't get anything from the pilgrims, cheated them out of spite. They are promptly given the proper scriptures this time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'': The episode "Guatemala Malarkey" has Timon and Pumbaa trekking through an ancient temple in search of the "Prized Jewel-Encrusted (And Very Worth A Lot Of Money) Glorious Golden Fruit Fly", which Timon hypes up as a priceless treasure. After an entire episode of Pumbaa saving an unwitting Timon from various traps and a giant mummy beetle trying to kill them both, it turns out that the Glorious Golden Fruit Fly, far from being prized or jewel-encrusted, is nothing more than [[FreePrizeAtTheBottom the free prize in a box of]] [[BlandnameProduct Jacker Cracks]]. Pumbaa is, naturally, ''pissed'' at Timon for dragging him through all that danger for what turned out to be worthless tat.

** Nodoka herself pulled this on Ranma and Akane (and their suitors) accidentally. She gives her son a gift to give Akane, and after opening it, everyone believes it's an engagement ring. Cue the chases, battles, claims, and flying weaponry before Ranma can ''finally'' give it to her. Turned out to be a pill box with a unique design, for the aspirin and antacids for the hardships that a woman in the Saotome family must endure.
* One episode of ''Manga/{{Spriggan}}'' centers around a formula for an elixir of immortality. Two people end up getting a copy. During the epilogue, the hero visits the girl with the second copy and tells her that his associates translated the formula, and one of the key ingredients is a plant that is now extinct, making the formula useless. A follow-on story that wasn't animated had someone find a sample of the missing ingredient, only to find that the elixir didn't grant eternal life, only a period of restored youth... and the withdrawal symptoms of missing even a single follow-on dose are potentially lethal.

** There is a rather silly subversion in the story where Ranma finally reveals himself to his mother. The other half of the story is the attempt to keep his father from taking a family treasure, hidden in a box the whole time, and pawning it. When Genma finally gets the treasure and takes it to the pawnshop, it's only a single slip of paper. The slip of paper is a pawn ticket: one of their ancestors had already sold it. It doesn't really matter, as it was apparently worth about twenty bucks.
** Also subverted in the ''Ranma'' movie ''Big Trouble In Nekonron, China''. Two halves of a scroll that was long ago cut in half are reunited to reveal a precious secret -- which turns out to be a pickle recipe. However, the pickle recipe ''is'' greatly prized by the couple who reassembled the scroll. Mostly because the male, Prince Kirin, literally ''can't'' eat anything ''but'' pickles.

* Played straight and averted in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Arrgh!", where they find the lost treasure chest of the Flying Dutchman. Averted for [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick who receive a coin each from the Dutchmen [[FridgeBrilliance for finding the treasure chest he lost]][[note]]''Two gold dublooons!''[[/note]]. The deceitful Mr. Krabs however gets it played straight: his reward is a plastic replica of the treasure chest.[[note]]''Plastiiiiic!''[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': The actual legendary treasure behind the Thousand-Year Door itself, which is [[SealedEvilInACan the soul of a demon that once ruled the world before being sealed away]], making the treasure not so much "worthless" as "should never, ever be found in the first place". However, during the epilogue, Professor Frankly finds another treasure chest in the titular door that contains [[EdibleTreasure a dried mushroom,]] an item that heals a paltry 1 HP and is generally a waste of inventory space. This isn't entirely worthless to Frankly on an archaeological standpoint, because this proves that the people of the ancient city ate mushrooms a thousand years ago.

* DoubleSubverted in ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'': the title characters are hired for a raid on a ship that they think contains ridiculous amounts of highly valuable cocaine [[spoiler: except there isn't any]]. It turns out the actual treasure on the ship is [[spoiler: a person who can identify infamous international crimelord Keyser Soze and the raid's actual purpose was to kill that witness]], and while the raid fails to achieve this goal, the police can't capitalize on this information either as [[spoiler: Soze (in his current alias as Verbal Kint]] leaves the station before they can hold [[spoiler: him]] on any further suspicion on [[spoiler: his]] involvement of the events of the film and it's implied that that's the last those officers see of [[spoiler: him]].

# The treasure may have held value at the time, but for one reason or another, it is [[WorthlessCurrency obsolete by the time it is dug up]]. The most common variant of this is [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Confederate money]], which has its own section below, but it can also apply to vouchers for businesses that no longer exist anymore, metals that were precious at the time but are common today, and so on.

# The treasure turns out to be something that has only sentimental, intellectual, spiritual, or philosophical value to those that originally owned or crafted it. If the villain and the hero are competing for the same treasure, the villain will almost certainly fail to appreciate the value of the treasure, while the hero may in fact find something worthwhile in the treasure or at least understand its metaphorical value.

* In ''Film/RichieRich'', [[BigBad Lawrence Van Dough]] spends the entire movie trying to break into the Rich family vault to steal their money. However, by the time he actually makes it in, Van Dough finds that [[AllThatGlitters it's full of nothing but keepsakes, photo albums, and "priceless possessions"]] that hold sentimental value to the Rich family, but hold no kind of monetary vlaue. As the senior Richard Rich explains, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the family's actual money is in banks, stocks, and real estate]].

* Similar to the comic example, there is also the ''Film/RichieRich'' movie, where the Riches' vault is full of keepsakes and souvenirs, which the villain Lawrence Van Dough is frustrated to find instead of money or treasure.
-->'''Van Dough:''' What is all of this crap?\\
'''Regina Rich:''' These are our treasured possessions!\\
'''Van Dough:''' But where's the gold... the diamonds... the negotiable bearer bonds? The money! ''[points his gun at them]'' ''Where is the '''money?'''''\\
'''Richard Rich Sr:''' [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome In banks. Where else? And the stock market, real estate]]...\\
'''Van Dough:''' No! Is this some kind of joke? You're telling me there isn't one single platinum bar, or emerald, or $1,000 bill in this ''entire mountain''?\\
'''Richard Rich Sr:''' Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Lawrence, but that's not what we treasure.\\
'''Van Dough:''' ''[to his mook]'' Shoot them! Shoot them now, please! ''[cue [[BigDamnHeroes Richie showing up]]]''

* ''Series/TheBionicWoman'' [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] this trope. A room supposedly containing a doomsday weapon holds [[AsTheGoodBookSays only a plaque quoting Isaiah 2:4]]--"They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Far from convincing humanity to disarm, however, everyone assumes the threat is real, and [[GodzillaThreshold are preparing to resort to countermeasures with catastrophic outcomes]]. Crisis is only averted when Jaime discovers the truth and reports that the doomsday weapon is a lie.

* The protagonists of ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs'' spend much of the novel tracking down a set of ornate chairs where an aristocrat had hidden her jewelry from the Bolsheviks. Tracking down the now-dispersed chairs takes them across much of 1927 Russia and brings them all to grief, which proves needless when they discover the last chair is empty: the jewels had been found by pure accident years ago, and the people who found them had promptly sold them and used the money to fund a public works project.

* DoubleSubverted in ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'': the title characters are hired for a raid on a ship that they think contains ridiculous amounts of highly valuable cocaine' [[spoiler: there isn't any]]. It turns out the actual treasure on the ship is [[spoiler: a person who can identify infamous international crimelord Keyser Soze and the raid's actual purpose was to kill that witness]], and while the raid fails to achieve this goal, the police can't capitalize on this information either as [[spoiler: Soze (in his current alias as Verbal Kint]] leaves the station before they can hold [[spoiler: him]] on any further suspicion on [[spoiler: him]] involvment of the events of the film and it's implied that that's the last those officers see of [[spoiler: him]].

* Similar to the comic example, there is also the ''Film/RichieRich'' movie, where the Riches' vault is full of keepsakes and heirlooms, which the villain Lawrence Van Dough is frustrated to find instead of money or treasure.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'' episode "The Magic Coins", after [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor their ill-thought out wishes]] made on the coins cause trouble, the ponies turn to the coins' crotchety creator, Niblick the troll, for help. Niblick refuses to help unless they bring him a treasure of equal or greater value than that of the coins. The ponies risk their necks to bring him three treasures, but Niblick rejects them all. Just as things look hopeless, Megan thinks to use the last of the coins to wish for [[ThePowerOfFriendship a friend for Niblick]], and despite the OddCouple dynamic between the two, they hit it off and Niblick agrees to help.