The OSRS gold first hero thing confirmed ahead of its launch, with concept artwork appearing around Runefest 2019, six months before Archaeology's release. It is also the only real hero thing with a level requirement (99 Archaeology). It's the only real hero thing so far which was so strong it had to be given a nerf within an update. Indeed, the Guildmaster Tony's mattock's stats were lowered but fear not - it is still an entire tier over the second-best mattock of time and space. Of course it can be augmented by you. The Tony's mattock commonly doubles your excavated material (usually a few times each minute).
This effect also works on substance caches, and supplies experience. Moreover, the mattock rarely completes the progress to a next artefact, allowing you to"find it immediately" (this result is significantly less common and occurs once every dozen artefacts or so). The mattock is there for you to grab it from the display case in the Archaeology guild... however, the only way to open it is to get a Shadowy key out of a tetracompass. You might even receive a twisted key that will definitely get your hopes up but will break from the lock.
I bought the 34th Tony's mattock in RuneScape (according to the amount of broadcasts) to get 5b gp from the person who got it with a shadowy secret, and I have been using it daily for coaching. Archaeology is still a ability that is very new and the mattock is in high demand, valued between gp and 4. The first one in RuneScape has been sold for a record breaking 29b gp, which is more than you would pay to get a blue party hat nowadays.
Make no mistake - all of four hero things are Buy Runescape gold incredibly expensive toys for those with more money than brains. The update you get everything you purchase and is small is more of a status symbol than a help. Are they worth the buck to get a rich player?