Subway Co-Founder Buys Things To Give Them Away

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Aug 13th 2009 at 11:02PM

Some collectors wait until they have left this earth to see their treasures head to the museum. Not nuclear physicist and Subway co-founder Peter Buck. He buys things just to give them away. The Washington Post interviews Buck who in 2004 bought one of the world's most stunning rubies and donated it to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in memory of his late wife. The Carmen Lúcia ruby is shown at right. More recently Buck acquired a 224-year-old George Washington letter which will also go to the National Museum of American History spending $250,000 to buy the document and arrange for its care.

Carmen's longtime jeweler Frank Cappiello brokered the beginning of the relationship between the Smithsonian and Buck. The letter Buck purchased was sent in 1785 and was kept in the family of the recipient until recently when it was sold to a dealer who sold it to Cappiello who then sold it to Buck, who hasn't seen the letter in person yet. Buck's generosity inspires a certain amount of envy, many organizations and individuals would love to have access to the ear and wallet of a billionaire. For Buck's part there seems to be pleasure not in as much in acquiring the specific goods but in being able to share them with the visitors to the Smithsonian.

Tags: big givers, BigGivers, george washington, GeorgeWashington, peter buck, PeterBuck, smithsonian, subway