[sports-rings]

Heritage is auctioning off a Superbowl II ring at their National Platinum Auction. The ring and the story have been in the news lately as player Frederick "Fuzzy" Thurston was a player on the superbowl I and II teams. The IRS seized the ring as Mr. Thurston owed back taxes to the IRS.

The ring came from Mr. Thurston and the auction is already up to $35,000 ($41,825 with the buyers premium).

Heritage states in the description "Presented is the very ring he earned for his participation in the very last game of his career..."

While I am sure the ring was Mr. Thurston's ring, and I am sure it was made by Jostens, this is not the original ring presented to him.

The original rings were all made of 14K gold, and inside the ring, the company Jostens, who made the rings engraved "(C)JOSTEN 14K". Back in the 60's Jostens engraved "JOSTEN" and later on, in the 1970's started to engrave "JOSTENS".

Heritageg describes the ring they are auctioning as 10K and engraved with "JOSTENS 10K". I emailed them that this could not be the original ring as I have an original ring and have seen other original rings and they are all 14K and have the origianl engraving of "JOSTEN".

Lengendary last summer had a player ring belonging to Dave Dunaway and they had to change the auction description after it was brought to their attention that the ring was made years after superbowl II. Mr Dunaway, who received the ring years later because he was traded late in the year and did not play in superbowl II. The ring he received was also was made of 10K and had the newer "JOSTENS" engraved inside the ring.

I emailed Heritage last week and mentioned these facts and invited them to contact me or other ring collectors for conformation. So far I have not heard from Heritage and they have not updated their auction on this matter.