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“A
sapphire for the ages.”, The Fort Worth Star Telegram, Jan. 25, 2001
A sapphire
for the ages: Sale of gem to benefit local charities
By Paul Bourgeois
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH -- The world's largest sapphire -- 61,500 carats and weighing
28 pounds -- came to North Texas for its world premiere.
The blue stone, dubbed the Millennium Sapphire, was displayed at Shady
Oaks Country Club on Thursday. By Monday, it will be on display in Colleyville.
After a month, it will go on a world tour.
10 percent of
the proceeds to be shared equally by three North Texas charities: Fort
Worth's Imagination Celebration, which provides enrichment opportunities
to schoolchildren; the Jewel Charity Ball, which supports the care of
indigent children at Cook Children's Medical Center; and Happy Hill Farm,
a residential facility for abused and neglected children in Granbury.
"This will help the children we help a tremendous amount," said Betty
Rutherford, chairwoman of the Jewel Charity Ball.
Ed Shipman, founder and director of Happy Hill Farm, said he was hesitant
to start making plans for the money.
"We need to wait until we sell it," he said. "It will be very, very helpful
to us." Happy Hill Farm is home to 110 youths.
"We are thrilled," said Ginger Head Gearheart, Imagination Celebration's
director.
"For us, this could absolutely mean turning our organization around, from
an organization that lives from year to year to one that could be sustained
for the future of Fort Worth and our children. We are excited by the possibility."
Mckinney said that given the size of the stone, it was decided that it
should incorporate a historical theme. The football-size gem is carved
with the images of more than 130 significant people, places and events.
When discovered in Madagascar five years ago, Mckinney said, projections
were that it might be sold for as much as $500 million. Mckinney said
that amount was determined by hype and by the politics in Madagascar,
where some leaders did not want the gem to leave the country.
Still, Mckinney said he expects the eventual price to far exceed the minimum,
and the hope is that the buyer will allow the stone to be shown to the
public, perhaps in a museum.
The charity connection developed because Susan Irvin, the stone's
orginal Marketing Agent, is active in some of the
charities, in particular the Jewel Charity Ball.
With the gem's depictions of people, places and events that changed history,
Irvin said it was decided that proceeds should benefit children.
"We are representing history here, and children are our future," she said.
If a buyer is not found during the gem's world tour, Irvin said, plans
are to return it to Fort Worth for sale at an auction.
"We just felt the world needed to see it before it went into private hands,"
Irvin said.
More information and photos can be obtained online at www.millenniumsapphire.com
Paul Bourgeois, (817) 390-7796
Send comments to bourgeois@star-telegram.com
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