For two thousand years there has been a market for religious artifacts that are supposedly directly connected with important historical figures. One experts has been quoted numerous times dryly commenting that is all of the splinters that have been marketed and sold as being directly from the cross that Jesus was nailed to were to be put together, the cross would be a hundred feet tall and fifty feet wide. Still, this doesn’t stop people from buying and selling items that have dubious claims at best. The aftermarket for religious jewelry is certainly a hot bed for such financial traffic, and what has been coming up more and more often are rosary beads @ http://www.monarchjewelryandart.com/religious-jewelry/ros... that supposedly have been used by Mother Theresa herself.

“There is certainly an aspect of wanting to be connected with someone who is so revered by millions of people around the world,” one theologian said in an email in response to questions sent to him. “People want to be able to look up to someone who has led an exemplary life and hope that somehow that person’s outlook and approach to life can rub off on them.” He went on to later say, however, that he treats any mention of an “authentic” and “This was once used by” claim to be suspect.

The best suggestion that he could come with was to make sure that before any more changed hands the buyer had a professional jeweler perform a jewelry appraisal on the item to be sure to document its authenticity. They can easily determine when an item was made, where it was made and what kind of use it may have seen in its lifetime. These professionals, like the ones at Monarch Jewelry and Art, can help protect people from committing to something that their faith tells them they need simply because of the story attached to it.