In 1966, Helen Drutt owned three pieces of jewelry -- a strand of pearls, a circle pin and a cameo that she inherited from her grandmother. Then she saw a piece of jewelry by American jeweler Stanley Lechtzin.

She says she gasped, and then screamed. That night, she couldn't sleep.

One can imagine an engagement ring eliciting this reaction, but the chunky brooch in question? It was dark and rough to the touch, with a shard of tourmaline embedded in its barklike texture. A pearl was stuck on a stumpy outcrop like a carbuncle.

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