Music Friday: Carly Simon Fights for Mom's Pearls in the Deeply Personal 'Like a River'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you wonderful songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, we feature a little-known treasure from Carly Simon’s extensive catalog called “Like a River.” It’s a heartfelt, deeply personal and hauntingly beautiful love letter to her mother, Andrea Simon, written just after her passing in 1994.

In the song, Simon describes how she and her older siblings, Joanna and Lucy, competed for her deceased mom’s precious possessions, including a very special piece of jewelry.

She sings, “I fought over the pearls / With the other girls / But it was all a metaphor / For what was wrong with us.”

The tone of the song transitions from mourning to celebration, as Simon injects a bit of levity to emphasize her mother’s spirit. She asks her mom if she can now clear up the mystery of the Sphinx and if she’s dancing with Benjamin Franklin on the face of the moon.

She also holds the promise that she and her mom will be united in the afterlife. She writes, “I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter / That part of our life together is over / But I will wait for you, forever / Like a river…”

Today’s featured song is the fourth track from Simon’s 1994 biographical album, Letters Never Sent. Simon said the songs on the album were inspired by the discovery of an old box of letters she’d written, but had never mailed. In its review, Entertainment Weekly called the album “funky, fascinating and sumptuous.”

It’s hard to believe that Simon, one of the quintessential singer/songwriters of the 1970s and former wife of James Taylor, will celebrate her 77th birthday in June. The Bronx-born, two-time Grammy winner has amassed 24 Billboard Hot 100 singles over her stellar career. She is also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1994).

A few items of Simon trivia…
• She attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY.
• She is the daughter of Richard Simon, co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster.
• She submitted a demo tape to Clive Davis at Columbia Records, who turned her down. She ended up signing with Elektra.
• She earned a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1971.
• She lived with James Taylor in the house that was later owned and made infamous by O.J. Simpson. Simon and Taylor were married from 1972 to 1983.

Please enjoy the official video of Carly Simon singing “Like a River.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Like a River”
Written and performed by Carly Simon.

Dear mother the struggle is over now
And your house is up for sale
We divided your railroad watches
Among the four of us

I fought over the pearls
With the other girls
But it was all a metaphor
For what is wrong with us

As the room is emptying out
Your face so young comes into view
And on the back porch is a well-worn step
And a pool of light you can walk into

I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter,
That part of our life together is over
But I will wait for you, forever
Like a river…

Can you clear up the mystery of the Sphinx?
Do you know any more about God?
Are you dancing with Benjamin Franklin
On the face of the moon?

Have you reconciled with Dad?
Does the rain still make you sad?
Last night I swear I could feel you
Moving through my room

And I thought you touched my feet
I so wanted it to be true
In my theater there is a stage
And a footlight you can always step into…

I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter,
That part of our life together is over
But I will wait for you, forever
Like a river…

In the river I know I will find the key
And your voice will rise like spray
In the moment of knowing
The tide will wash away my doubts

‘Cause you’re already home
Making it nice for when I come
Like the way I find my bed turned down
Coming in from a late night out.

Please keep reminding me
Of what in my soul I know is true
Come in my boat, there’s a seat beside me
And two or three stars that we can gaze into…

I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter,
That part of our life together is over
But I will wait for you forever
Like a river…

Credits: Publicity photo of Carly Simon, Elektra, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Scientists Say It's Raining Liquid Rubies and Sapphires on the Exoplanet WASP-121b

Liquid rubies and sapphires rain down from metal clouds on an enormous "hot Jupiter" exoplanet located 855 light years from Earth, according to an international group of astronomers from the Munich-based Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. The team's findings were recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Located in the constellation Puppis, the exoplanet WASP-121b circles its host star in just 30 hours. It's about twice the size of Jupiter, made mostly of hot gas and is tidally locked, which means that one side of the exoplanet always faces the blazing hot star and the other side always faces cold, dark space.

The upper atmosphere of the side facing the star heats up to an inhospitable 3,000 degrees Celsius, while the dark side is much cooler at 1,500 degrees Celsius.

According to the researchers, this extreme temperature difference between the two hemispheres gives rise to strong winds that sweep around the entire planet from west to east at 18,000 kilometers per hour. Spectroscopic analysis indicates that the clouds on WASP-121b mainly consist of metals, such as iron, magnesium, chromium and vanadium.

Airborne metals and minerals simply evaporate on the hot dayside, but new evidence from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope indicates that temperatures drop low enough on the nightside for the metals to condense into clouds, resulting in rain that might look like liquified gemstones.

Corundum, the mineral family that includes rubies and sapphires, is made from aluminum oxide. Rubies owe their red color to trace amounts of chromium replacing aluminum in chemical makeup of the mineral. Sapphires get their color from trace amounts of iron and titanium.

Curiously, aluminum and titanium (two key ingredients in the corundum cocktail) were not among the gases detected in the atmosphere of WASP-121b. The scientists said a likely explanation for this is that these metals have condensed and rained down into deeper layers of the atmosphere, not accessible to their observations.

According to NASA, WASP-12b is a doomed planet. The hot Jupiter is orbiting so close to its parent star, it's literally being torn apart. Gravity causes enormous tidal forces, which are stretching the planet into the shape of an egg. The star's gravity also pulls material off the planet into a disk around the star. In 10 million years, predicts NASA, this alien world could be completely consumed.

Hot Jupiters are defined as Jupiter-like giant gas planets on close orbits around their parent stars, separated by only a few stellar diameters. Of the almost 5,000 known exoplanets, more than 300 are classified as hot Jupiters.

Credit: © Image by Patricia Klein and MPIA.

Texas Collector Scoops Up 11,800-Carat Opal for $144K at Alaska Auction

An 11,800-carat, gem-quality opal believed to be one of the top-five largest in the world was scooped up by a private Texas-based collector for $143,750 at Sunday's live-stream sale hosted by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals.

Auction coordinator and appraisal specialist Nick Cline told The Jeweler Blog that the opal's new owner, who requested to remain anonymous, assured him that the specimen called "Americus Australis" would remain intact.

The brick-size, 5.2-pound gem had been recovered from the famous eight-mile opal field of Coober Pedy, South Australia, in August of 1956. At the time, the specimen was purchased by the world-renowned opal dealers Altmann Cherny & Associates in the same parcel containing the largest gem-quality opal in the world, the 17,000-carat "Olympic Australis."

That sister stone remains in the Altmann & Cherny collection to this day and is said to be valued at $1.8 million.

Cline told The Associated Press that he contacted Fiona Altmann, granddaughter of John Altmann, to confirm the provenance of "Americus Australis." After digging through old company files, she unearthed a photo of a large opal that included a caption in her grandfather's handwriting. It read, "Americus Australis."

As legend has it, John Altmann ferried Americus Australis to the US in 1957 with the intention of selling it to the Smithsonian. Instead, it was purchased by the Von Brandts, a California-based gem trading family specializing in precious opal.

For the next 24 years, Americus Australis would became a headliner at more than 400 gem and mineral shows. The specimen was purposely broken in half — a practice employed decades ago to prove the internal quality of a gem.

The prized opal left the show circuit in 1981 and found a new home as an oddity in Guy Von Brandt's furniture shop. Guy eventually moved to Oregon, where the gem remained "tucked away" and out of the public eye.

Guy's son, Fred, told the Associated Press that his father finally decided that the stone had been “locked up long enough, that it’s time to put it back out in the world and see what interest it can generate.”

Americus Australis came along for the ride when Fred relocated to Alaska a little over a year ago. Shortly thereafter, Fred connected with Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals to organize the sale of the stone. Cline said he pitched the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, but that organization didn't have sufficient time to make a bid.

Instead, Americus Australis will be moving to its new home in Texas, where a private collector had seen a pre-auction story about the gem in his local media and decided to make a bid.

Might Americus Australis have an opportunity to dazzle a new generation of opal lovers? Only time will tell.

Credits: Photos by Dana Fuentes / Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals.

Sotheby's Unveils 15.10-Carat Flawless, Step-Cut, Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond

Back in July of 2021, we introduced you to an exceptional 39.34-carat blue rough diamond unearthed at South Africa’s iconic Cullinan Mine. The extraordinarily rare stone had the industry buzzing because it was remarkably similar to a record-breaking blue diamond discovered at the same mine in 2014.

That 29.6-carat rough stone was subsequently transformed into a 12.03-carat, internally flawless, cushion-cut, fancy vivid blue headliner that would be named The Blue Moon of Josephine. In 2015, the polished gem was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $48.5 million, or more than $4 million per carat. It was the highest price per carat ever paid for a diamond.

The Blue Moon of Josephine maintained nearly 41% of its total weight during the cutting process. We mused that if the same percentage held true for the 39.34-carat blue diamond unearthed in 2021, the result would be a 16-carat finished gem. At $4 million per carat, the gem might be worth $64 million.

Well, last week Sotheby's revealed the progeny of the 39.34-carat blue rough. Named "The De Beers Cullinan Blue," the 15.10-carat, step-cut, fancy vivid blue diamond retained 38.4% of its weight during the arduous cutting process and earned the rating of internally flawless from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The gem was fashioned into its step-cut shape by Diacore’s master diamond cutters working in concert with De Beers.

Billed as the largest vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction and the largest internally flawless step-cut vivid blue diamond that the GIA has ever graded, The De Beers Cullinan Blue could prove to be a record holder when it hits the auction block at Sotheby's Hong Kong on April 27.

As the star of a single-lot auction, the rare gem is expected to fetch at least $45 million ($2.98 million per carat), but could sell for much more.

In May 2016, the slightly smaller, 14.62-carat fancy vivid blue diamond dubbed the Oppenheimer Blue fetched an astounding $57.5 million ($3.93 million per carat) at Christie’s Geneva. While The De Beers Cullinan Blue is rated internally flawless, the Oppenheimer Blue is one grade below at VVS1 clarity.

Sotheby's noted that blue diamonds of this importance are exceptionally rare, with only five examples over 10 carats ever having come to auction. Until now, none had exceeded 15 carats.

“[The De Beers Cullinan Blue] ranks as one of the best De Beers has ever seen," noted Bruce Cleaver, CEO of De Beers Group. "It is extremely rare and unique, and as the Home of Diamonds, De Beers is pleased to join together with Sotheby’s to bring this diamond to the world.”

According to the GIA Monograph, achieving the fancy vivid color grade in a step-cut gem is a remarkable achievement.

The GIA wrote, "To achieve a Fancy Vivid grade with a step cut or emerald cut, the inherent body-color has to be stronger than virtually every other fancy shape.”

The auction house added that while other colored diamonds can be found in mines around the world, there are very few sources for blue diamonds, most of which are recovered from the Cullinan mine in South Africa.

Trace amounts of the chemical element boron are responsible for causing the coloration of natural blue diamonds. According to the Museum of Natural History, “less than one boron atom per million carbon atoms is sufficient to produce the blue coloration.”

The De Beers Cullinan Blue is currently on a promotional tour that will make stops in New York, London, Dubai, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.

Credits: De Beers Cullinan Blue images courtesy of Sotheby's. Rough diamond image courtesy of Diacore.

Simone Biles Says Her New Engagement Ring 'Definitely Beats a Gold Medal'

Despite owning four Olympic gold medals and 19 World Championship gold medals, elite gymnast Simone Biles told the audience of The Today Show on Friday that her new 3-carat oval-cut diamond engagement ring from fiancé Jonathan Owens beats them all.

In a remote Zoom-style interview between The Today Show hosts in New York and the newly engaged couple in Texas, Carson Daly asked Biles how her new gold compares to all of her medals.

"You have so much gold, Simone," he said jokingly. "The ring that you have now, does it match all the hardware that you have? The gold, the silver, does it clash?"

Without missing a beat, the 24-year-old put it all into perspective.

"It's definitely my most prized possession now and I'm always wearing it," she declared. "It definitely beats a gold medal."

She went on to admit that she had to consult a higher source about whether she should ever take the ring off.

Biles explained, "I was washing my hair the other day and I took it off, just in case — I didn't know if it was gonna get caught or anything — and I have to ask my mom, 'When do you take it off, do you ever take it off?' and stuff like that. But it definitely beats a gold medal."

Owens confessed that he knew Biles was "the one" barely a month into their relationship. His feelings were affirmed by an unlikely source — his bulldog, Zeus.

"My dog really loved her," he said with a big smile. "I could kind of see his face like whenever I would pick my bookbag up in my apartment, he would think we're leaving to go to her place, so he would sprint to the front door. And I'd be like, 'Huh, you really like her!'"

The process of picking the perfect diamond ring started back in December, according to the 26-year-old Houston Texans free safety.

Houston-based designer ZoFrost described the center stone as a 3-carat diamond with F color and VVS2 clarity. The center stone is prong-set on a three-row, micro-pavé diamond band, and a special touch recommended by Owens was to add a halo around the diamond.

Biles had a hunch that Owens would pop the question in 2022, but last Monday's proposal caught her by surprise.

"I thought it might happen this year, but definitely not on Valentine's Day," she said. "So that's why it was such a shock. The way he set everything up was just so seamless."

Last Tuesday, the seven-time Olympic medal winner announced the big news on her Instagram account with a series of proposal photos and a caption that read, “THE EASIEST YES. I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! let’s get married FIANCÉ.”

Credits: Screen captures via Youtube.com / TODAY. Ring image via Instagram.com / simonebiles.

Music Friday: Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift Sing About Diamond Rings in Nostalgic Remix

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Taylor Swift joins Ed Sheeran in the newly released remix of "The Joker and the Queen," a self-deprecating love song in which the awkward and freckle-faced Sheeran wonders why the beautiful and confident love of his life has chosen to be with someone like him.

He sings, "And I know you could fall for a thousand kings / And hearts that could give you a diamond ring / When I fold, you see the best in me / The joker and the queen."

In the remix of the song, Swift adds her perspective of the same relationship.

She sings, "And I know / You think that what makes a king / Is gold / A palace and diamond rings / When I fold, you see the best in me / The joker and the queen."

In the official video, which has been viewed 14 million times in only six days, Swift and Sheeran reprise their roles as Ava and Jack, characters they introduced in Swift's 2012 song, "Everything Has Changed." In that video, they become sweethearts in elementary school. In the remix of "The Joker and the Queen," the characters are first-semester freshman at different colleges. The soulmates seem lost without each other.

The video includes a texting scene, which includes a fun Easter egg. In a cut that lasts for just a blink, we see the screen of Jack's cell phone and this message to Ava: "You'd think for multi-platinum lyricists we'd do better."

"Me and Taylor first met and wrote + recorded our first song together in 2012, ten years ago now, I’m so so honored to have her on this song," Sheeran told his 37 million Instagram followers. "Not only is she the best singer/songwriter in the world but she’s also a very close friend, I’m very lucky to have her in my life. For the music video we got the kids from our song Everything Has Changed, all grown up and off to college now!"

Released as the fourth single from his 2021 album Equals (represented by the = sign), “The Joker and The Queen” is said to be an ode to Sheeran's wife of three years, Cherry Seaborn.

When the couple announced their engagement in early 2017, Sheeran proudly revealed that he was wearing an engagement ring that was designed and hand-crafted by Seaborn.

“I never saw why men didn’t wear engagement rings,” Sheeran told a reporter for Lorraine, a British lifestyle and entertainment TV show. “It’s the same commitment either way. Cherry made it for me herself out of silver clay. I really like it.”

The “silver clay” that Seaborn used in the fabrication of Sheeran’s ring is a crafting material made of very small particles of precious metal mixed with a binder and water. It can be easily molded by hand into jewelry and then fired in a kiln. The binder burns away and only the precious metal remains.

Please check out the video of "The Joker and the Queen." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"The Joker and the Queen (Remix)"
Written by Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Johnny McDaid, Fred Gibson and Sam Roman. Performed by Ed Sheehan (feat. Taylor Swift).

How was I to know
It’s a crazy thing
I showed you my hand
And you still let me win

And who was I to say
That this was meant to be?
The road that was broken
Brought us together

And I know
You could fall for a thousand kings
And hearts
That would give you a diamond ring

When I fold
You see the best in me
The joker and the queen

I’ve been played before
If you hadn’t guessed
So I kept my cards closed
To my foolproof vest

But you called my bluff
And saw through all my tells
And then you went all in
And we left together

And I know
You think that what makes a king
Is gold
A palace and diamond rings

When I fold
You see the best in me
The joker and the queen

And I know
You could fall for a thousand kings
And hearts
That would give you a diamond ring

When I folded
You saw the best in me
The joker and the queen

The joker and the queen

Credit: Image via Instagram.com / teddysphotos.

NFL Pro Jonathan Owens Picks 3-Carat Oval Diamond for Star Gymnast Simone Biles

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles says she's "on cloud nine," "in complete shock" and "over the moon" since receiving her 3-carat oval-cut diamond engagement ring on Valentine's Day from Houston Texans free safety Jonathan Owens.

On Tuesday, the seven-time Olympic medal winner announced the big news on her Instagram account with a series of proposal photos and a caption that read, "THE EASIEST YES. I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! let’s get married FIANCÉ."

The photo series included a closeup shot of her new engagement ring, which was described by Houston-based designer ZoFrost as a 3-carat diamond with F color and VVS2 clarity. The center stone is prong-set on a three-row, micro-pavé diamond band.

The designer told DailyMail.com that the diamond was handpicked by Owens, and pointed out that the 26-year-old NFL standout "wanted to add a special touch to the ring by adding a halo around the oval diamond."

A short video of the ring reveals the unique diamond halo, which wraps around the diamond and can be seen on a profile view, but is hidden when looking at the stone from the top-down.

On Wednesday, the 24-year-old Biles shared her super-charged emotional state with her 6.9 million Instagram followers.

In an Instagram Story punctuated by heart and crying emojis, Biles wrote that she was still on cloud nine and in complete shock.

"Had to fly out yesterday morning to LA for some work," she wrote. "Missing @jowens_3 so much. Can't wait to properly celebrate and take in the moment to breathe. Thanks to every who reached out to congratulate us. We are over the moon!"

When Biles first announced the engagement on Tuesday morning, celebrity sites quickly jumped on the story with wildly overblown "expert" assumptions about the weight of her center stone. Many pundits had pegged the size in the range of 7 to 9 carats, which would have been unusually disproportional for the gymnast who stands 4' 8", weighs 104 lbs and has delicate, small hands.

Biles and Owens have been dating for about two years. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biles made the first move via social media.

"He would say I slid into his DMs," Biles told the publication. "I saw him and I was like, 'Oh, he's pretty cute,' so I said hi… and then I saw that he was in the Houston area, so we started chatting a little bit, and then we went to hang out a week or two later."

Owens told Texas Monthly, “This was a match made in heaven. There’s no better person for me. She loves me, she’s so affectionate. I just love that. And it’s just intoxicating seeing how much work she puts into everything.”

Credits: Images and video screen capture via Instagram.com / simonebiles.

Jeremejevite Is So Rare That Few Professional Jewelers Will Ever Encounter One

Imagine a gemstone so rare that few professional jewelers will ever encounter one. Such is the case with the beautiful, yet elusive, blue jeremejevite. This oval-cut specimen — which weighs 11.3 carats and was sourced in the remote Erongo Mountains of Namibia — has been part of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection since 2012.

A colorless version of jeremejevite was first identified in 1883 on Mt. Soktuj in the Adun-Chilon Mountains of Siberia, Russia. The unique aluminum borate mineral was named after Russian mineralogist and crystallographer, Pavel Vladimirovich Eremeev (Jeremejev, in German).

When a second occurrence of jeremejevite was found in Namibia 90 years later, local prospectors misidentified the deep blue crystals as aquamarine. Since then, small amounts of jeremejevite have turned up in Tajikistan, Germany, Madagascar and Burma.

The crystals are most often tiny in size and range in hue from colorless and pale yellow to blue, blue-green and lavender. The Smithsonian specimen is considered a valuable collector's gem due to its large size and rich color. It was purchased for the Smithsonian with funds from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation.

The fine-quality jeremejevite available on the market today was likely sourced from a recently discovered pocket in Namibia. When it comes to faceted blue jeremejevite, "impressive size" means anything larger than 1 carat, according to yavorskyy.com. The international gem specialist added that it is curious how many rough jeremejevite display bicolor zoning: light yellowish on the top and distinct blue on the bottom.

Jeremejevite is a member of an exclusive club of hard-to-say, hard-to-source gemstones that include taaffeite, grandidierite, serendibite, musgravite, benitoite and poudretteite (which we profiled in August 2021).

Jeremejevite generally forms as hexagonal crystals embedded in granitic pegmatite, which is a coarse igneous rock that forms during the final stage of a magma's crystallization. The gem has a hardness of 6.5 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale.

Credit: Photo by Greg Polley / Smithsonian.

On-Field Proposal: Two Rings in One Night for LA Rams Safety Taylor Rapp

LA Rams safety Taylor Rapp just enjoyed his best day ever. Moments after earning a Super Bowl ring on Sunday night, the 24-year-old surprised his long-time girlfriend, Dani Johnson, with an on-field marriage proposal at California's SoFi stadium in front of a crowd of cheering teammates and fans.

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A short video posted to the official LA Rams Instagram page chronicled the awesome moment when Rapp popped the question. The team's caption read, "MORE THAN ONE RING TONIGHT! CONGRATS, @taylorrapp!!!"

With yellow and blue confetti still raining down from the rafters, Rapp went down on one knee, opened a ring box and asked Johnson if she would marry him. She nodded "Yes" and tried to hold back the tears as Rapp slipped the engagement ring on her finger.

Clad in bright blue jeans in support of her favorite NFL team, Johnson looked down at her hand and stared at her ring for a moment before embracing her groom-to-be and giving him a sweet kiss.

Rapp and Johnson have been dating since high school. She's been his biggest fan since he played football for Sehome High School in Bellingham, WA. He went on to star at the University of Washington before turning pro in 2019. Johnson played volleyball at Southern Oregon University.

Rapp signaled his marital intentions in an Instagram post from last March.

He wrote, "Happy birthday to the love of my life, the one person who holds me accountable and makes sure I stay true to myself no matter what. If everyone had just a fraction of your kind, compassionate, and loving heart, this world would be a much better place. You make me a better person every single day. Thank you for being my best friend and such a great partner to do life with."

He punctuated the statement with a heart emoji.

Rapp's on-field proposal capped an exciting Super Bowl victory, which saw the LA Rams come from behind in the fourth quarter to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. The champ will likely get his Super Bowl ring some time in June.

The proposal video earned more than 360,000 Likes on Instagram. You can check it out here…

Credits: Proposal screenshots via Instagram.com / rams; Couple photo via Instagram.com / danijohnsonnn.

Lombardi Trophy's Sleek Lines Were Sketched on a Cocktail Napkin 56 Years Ago

When LA Rams head coach Sean McVay raised the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the sky after last night’s 23-20 triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals in Inglewood, CA, he was celebrating with one of the most recognizable and coveted awards in all of professional sports.

The 6.7-pound sterling silver icon stands 20.75 inches tall and depicts a football in a kicking position on a tapered three-sided stand. Its sleek lines were first sketched on the back of a cocktail napkin 56 years ago by Tiffany & Co.'s former design chief, Oscar Riedener.

According to the official Pro Football Hall of Fame website, then-commissioner Pete Rozelle was tasked with coming up with a trophy for the first-ever AFL-NFL Championship Game, which would take place in January of 1967. Former NFL Executive Director Don Weiss, in his book The Making of the Super Bowl, said Rozelle wanted the trophy to be aligned with his vision of everything about the game being first class.

Rozelle contacted Tiffany & Co., which arranged a meeting with its head of design, Riedener. Ironically, the designer was a native of Switzerland and knew nothing about American football. After the meeting with Rozelle, Reidener visited the New York headquarters of the famous toy store FAO Schwartz and bought a football.

The next morning he put the ball on his kitchen table, opened a box of cornflakes and stared at the football while eating his breakfast. He used a pair of scissors to cut up the empty cornflake box, transforming it into a three-sided trophy base atop which the football could sit.

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At lunch a few days later with Rozelle and a delegation from Tiffany’s, Riedener drew a sketch of his design on a cocktail napkin. Rozelle liked it and the rest is history.

The trophy took on its official name — Vince Lombardi Trophy — in 1970 to honor the Green Bay Packer’s legendary football coach, who led his team to victory in the first two Super Bowls.

With silver trading at about $23.70 per ounce, the trophy has a melt value of about $2,500, but for the players and coaches who invest their blood, sweat and tears to win a Super Bowl championship, the Vince Lombardi trophy is priceless.

Each year, the trophy is awarded right after the big game, but it eventually makes its way back to Tiffany’s hollowware shop in Parsippany, NJ, to be engraved with the names of the participating teams, the date, location of the Super Bowl game and the game’s final score. The winning team gets to keep the trophy. It was the Rams' second Super Bowl victory. The team's first was in 1999.

A highly publicized mishandling of the Vince Lombardi Trophy occurred after the New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII. In early April of 2019, the Pats attended the Boston Red Sox home opener at Fenway Park to celebrate with the fans. Prior to the game, wide receiver Julian Edelman was trying to get warmed up before throwing out the first pitch.

He was in a tent waiting to go onto the field when he tossed a baseball to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was holding the Lombardi Trophy. Instead of catching the ball with his hand, or letting the ball fly by, Gronkowski used the trophy to bunt the ball back at Edelman, resulting in a baseball-sized dent. Patriots owner Robert Kraft told Gronkowski that he didn't plan to have the trophy fixed.

Credits: Close-up image by Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Full-size trophy photo courtesy of BusinessWire.com. Screen capture via YouTube.com/CBS Sunday Morning.