By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Decades ago, when Pope Paul VI agreed to sell some of his jewelry to raise money for charity, the last thing he expected was for a few of these sacred items to show up on eBay.
According to The Telegraph, that’s exactly what happened. Pope Paul VI’s pectoral cross, which is given to prelates when they are consecrated as a bishop, and a ring, have turned up at a Wilmington, North Carolina jewelry store owned by Alan Perry.
Perry claims the widow of the man who bought the ring and cross in the 1970s tried to sell them through a New York firm for $1.25 million, but could not find a buyer. After serving on the board of a local charity with Perry, the woman asked him if he thought he could sell them.
“She came in with all this paperwork and with the cross and ring, and I just said, ‘Holy mackerel,”‘ Perry said.
He believes the items could reap anywhere from $800,000 to $900,000 on the popular on-line auction site.
“That’s why we’re going to put it up on eBay,” he said. “It’s only worth what someone’s willing to pay for it, and eBay might be a good measure to see if people are interested.”
Perry is not new to the kind of sensational press this kind of sale will bring him. His store, Perry’s Emporium, recently made headlines when he appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to make good on a bet to refund the cost of jewelry he bought over a two-week period if there was at least three inches of snow in Wilmington on Christmas. There was, and he paid out roughly $400,000.
He’s planning to put the cross and ring on public display beginning April 14 through Holy Week with an armed guard.
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