Jack Roland Murphy, who also went by "Murf the Surf,"
was sentenced to three years in jail for stealing 24 gems
from the American Museum of Natural History.

Two men broke into the American Museum of Natural History
in New York City and made off with millions of dollars in gems
on this day in history, Oct. 29, 1964.

The theft was the largest jewel heist in U.S. history.

Among the 24 gems stolen by Allan Dale Kuhn, 26, and Jack
Roland Murphy (also known as "Murf the Surf"), 27, were the
Star of India, a 563.35 carat sapphire; the DeLong Star Ruby,
a 100.32 carat ruby; and the Midnight Star, a black sapphire
weighing 116 carats. 

Kuhn and Murphy were eventually captured and arrested —
and tried for the jewel heist. 

The Star of India, left, and the DeLong Star Ruby, center,
at the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals inside the
American Museum of Natural History in New York. The
two were among the 24 gems stolen in the heist.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A gemstone, billed as one of the largest
gem-quality opals ever found, was sold for $143,750 at auction in
Alaska on Sunday.

The opal, dubbed the “Americus Australis,” weighs more than
11,800 carats, according to the auction house Alaska Premier
Auctions & Appraisals. It also has a long history.

Most recently, it was kept in a linen closet in a home in Big Lake,
north of Anchorage, by Fred von Brandt, who mines for gold in
Alaska and whose family has deep roots in the gem and rock
business.

The opal is larger than a brick and is broken into two pieces,
which von Brandt said was a practice used decades ago to
prove gem quality.

Von Brandt said the stone has been in his family since the late
1950s, when his grandfather bought it from an Australian opal
dealer named John Altmann.

ROSS SIMPSON

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
(February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011)

Elizabeth Taylor owned some of the biggest and most famous gems in the
world, including the thirty-three-carat Krupp Diamond (shown below).

1963