Inverness sight charity’s fundraiser boosted by generous Beauly jeweller
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A Beauly jeweller has donated his time and expertise to a drive to buy new sensory toys for blind babies.
Iain Marr, who runs an antiques shop in Beauly, valued hundreds of items of jewellery handed in by the public as part of the Sight Action Inverness appeal.
He then set the charity effort off to a flyer by agreeing to buy around a dozen of the items himself, for more than £1000.
In early November, the Courier told how a member of the public had stunned the charity’s staff by dropping off a genuine Cartier diamond bracelet worth up to £10,000.
Gillian Mitchell, Sight Action’s executive manager, has now secured an agreement with Christie’s in London to auction the bracelet in June. After discussions, it was agreed the auction house would waive their usual commission charge of 25 per cent of the sale.
“It is a huge saving for us,” she said. “They have put a guide price of £3-5000, but a little bit of research on their website has told us similar ones have sold for £7000 and £8000.
“We are also indebted to Iain who has given us over £1000 for about a dozen of the pieces of jewellery donated to us during the appeal. He has really gone the extra mile.”
As well as the jewellery, most of which is still to be sold, the charity’s appeal drew in £1600 in cash donations. It has been just fantastic and I can’t thank everyone enough for donating items and money so generously,” Mrs Mitchell added.
Beauly antique dealer Mr Marr said: “We were just delighted to donate our services to help such a worthy cause.”
Sight Action Inverness helps around 3000 blind or partially-sighted people in the Highlands and Islands.
It also operates a library of sensory toys, vital in helping stimulate blind babies during their early learning and development.
Related article: Delight for blind charity as mystery man donates expensive Cartier bracelet
