Precious Moments collection donated for breast cancer research

GRANBY, Mo. -- A southwest Missouri woman's 2,000-piece Precious Moments figurine collection has been donated to a breast cancer foundation.

Jon Stouffer donated his late mother's collection of Precious Moments figurines to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, The Joplin Globe reported. Shirley Stouffer died of heart problems in 2007 at age 67, he said, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.

He said she collected Precious Moments figurines for about 25 years.

Illustrator Sam Butcher began marketing the figurines in 1978. In 1989, the Precious Moments Inspiration Park and Precious Moments Chapel opened in Carthage, Mo., and the company eventually moved its headquarters there.

"They're going to a good cause," Jon said of the childlike angel figures. "She would be pleased that they're going to help somebody."

At its peak, he estimated his mother may have had as many as 4,000 figurines. The 2,000-piece collection could still be worth at least $100,000, and possibly more, said Steve Roark, a board member with the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks.

The foundation provides a variety of services, including short-term, non-medical financial assistance to women diagnosed with breast cancer. The foundation also offers free mammograms for qualified applicants at hospitals in the region.

Roark said inventory is being done on the extensive collection and when it's complete, staff members will input the description of each piece into a database that determines market value. That will give the foundation an idea of the range of prices it can ask when marketing the figurines.

"We will take our time and do our due diligence as to the best way to market them," said Kristi Seibert, outreach director for the foundation.

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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com