BURBANK : Exhibit Adds Jewels Worn by First Lady

A lucky diamond and earrings First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton wore to the Presidential inauguration will be on display as part of a $2 million gem show at the Media City Center Mall.

“We’re very interested in having having people appreciate the beauty of this ring,” said Stanley Kahn of Pine Bluff, Ark., who keeps the “Kahn Canary” at an Arkansas museum. He loaned the diamond to the Burbank show after getting a phone call from Cynthia Kettle, manager of the Mandarin Gems store at the mall.

“She feels it’s a good luck omen,” Kahn said of Clinton, who also wore the diamond to three of her husband’s four Arkansas gubernatorial inaugurations. “It’s at her disposal anytime she wants to wear it.”

The educational display, “Gems: Voyage From the Mine,” running from June 15 to July 5 and free to the public, was organized by the store as well as the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, the Gemological Institute of America and the Alexander Haagen Co.

The 4.25-carat bright yellow diamond was found in 1977 by an Arkansan at a state park where diamond mining is allowed at a small fee. Kahn, who later purchased the diamond, would not put a selling price on it. But Kettle said that the diamond was insured at $100,000 for the display. The diamond earrings are worth $16,000, Kettle said.

“This has been a very big project,” said Marva Semet, the exhibit designer hired as a consultant for the display, which also includes hundreds of other gems, rare stones and jewelry. A boulder of pure Wyoming jade weighing two tons will also be on display as well as a touch-screen computer showing how gems and jewelry are made.

Gem experts will also give lectures at the show at the Center Court of the mall, 201 E. Magnolia Blvd. For more information, call (213) 744-6913.