Here's a photo of what is affectionately called the "Reitz Chalice", owned by my diocese. The stones were gifted from Josephine Reitz upon her death about a hundred years ago. The stones alone were valued at $100k when the chalice was finished in 1930. 
It's stored at a "secure location" now and sees use every few years. We have to pay an arm and a leg for them to bring it in a Brinks truck while dudes with AR-15s provide security.
The patriarch of the Reitz clan, Franz Josef, wasn't particularly devout. His youngest daughter wanted to join the Little Sisters of the Poor and he forbade it. She died of tuberculosis while caring for the poor and he saw it as God's judgment against him for refusing her wish.
He was worth an absolute mint, so after her death he built in Evansville:
A Little Sisters of the Poor home,
Sacred Heart Church,
St. Joseph Church,
A Poor Clares convent,
and one other big thing I can't think of.
He also left a huge trust for 5 of our parishes after his death.
A Little Sisters of the Poor home,
Sacred Heart Church,
St. Joseph Church,
A Poor Clares convent,
and one other big thing I can't think of.
He also left a huge trust for 5 of our parishes after his death.
Oh, duh: he built Reitz Memorial High School, one of the two Catholic high schools in Evansville.
(There's also a local public high school named after him, as he was as kind to the city of Evansville as he was to the Church.)
(There's also a local public high school named after him, as he was as kind to the city of Evansville as he was to the Church.)
Even though this means nothing in terms of real monetary worth, when one adjusts $100,000 for inflation from 1930 you arrive at $1.8 million.
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