WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE GIGANTIC STAR SAPPHIRE RING FROM WILLIAM POWELL?
I’m glad you ask. First of all — and this is key to the mystery — that star sapphire was not gem quality. William Powell was known to be very tightfisted with money, and despite its size, the ring he gave Jean Harlow wasn’t expensive. You look at it and think, “Wow, what a rock,” but the truth is, a star sapphire that isn’t gem quality is like one Air Jordan shoe — there’s nothing unique about it. So you’re never going to find that ring, because there’s no way to identify it. It’d be like looking for a single Air Jordan shoe. How would you find it, and if you did, how would you know it was THE one? I interviewed John Gershgorn, who was Jean Harlow’s jeweler. When she showed him the ring, he examined it and thought, “This is nothing.” He sold gem quality star sapphires to actresses like Joan Crawford — and he told me this was a ring he wouldn’t have sold, size or not. As for what happened to it: your guess is as good as mine. I scoured all of Jean Harlow’s probate records, and it’s
