Thanks for Giving! The Montezuma Ball and Jewelry Artist Shane Hendren’s Generous Spirit

One week ago today, I wrote a story about the Bell family, master metalsmith Shane R. Hendren, rare and beautiful Stormy Mountain turquoise, and the Montezuma Ball auction. To follow-up, we promised to bring you an image of the gorgeous Shane R. Hendren necklace and earring ensemble that was sold by auction, as well as the video interview of him, seen publicly for the first time at the Ball on Saturday.

Intrigued yet? Read our first Shane Hendren post to get the whole story. Today we’re here to report that the auction went even better than expected!

If the story from last week wasn’t fascinating enough (have you read it yet?), the outcome of Saturday’s auction was nothing short of incredible! Not only did two parties at the Ball get into an exciting bidding war over Shane’s gorgeous ensemble, but in the heat of the auction, Shane graciously agreed to make a second one-of-a-kind set! Both parties won–one, a set that is already fabricated, and the other, a set that Shane will begin fabricating soon! Each party bid $50,000 for the honor of having a Shane R. Hendren original masterpiece necklace and earring ensemble.

The Bell family, Rio Grande, and Shane were thrilled. The proceeds will go to the beneficiaries of the Montezuma Ball, the primary one this year being WESST, an organization that aids entrepreneurs in business development, job creation and long term success, helping thousands of people from underserved populations to succeed in their own businesses over the years. Rio Grande has supported WESST for years, but we’ve never been involved in quite as magical a fundraising event as happened last Saturday!

Here is a 360-degree view of Shane's stunning necklace and earring set that was up for auction on Saturday:

And here’s the video of Shane that was shown before the auction began last Saturday night.

The Bell family, Rio Grande and WESST are grateful to Shane R. Hendren for his gracious offer to create another Stormy Mountain turquoise necklace and earring ensemble! It’s just one more example of his generosity of spirit and his extraordinary talent that benefit our whole community. We think that he’s the real gem here.

In this season of generosity, we hope you enjoyed this exciting story of giving. Now we’re going to go and count our blessings: our customers, readers, friends, and jewelry community. That includes you. We’re thankful that you have stopped by The Studio and come along on this ride with us.

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