Angelo DiMeo is wondering what to do next with Trustee Joel Ferguson's old MSU bowl rings.
The Lansing-based jeweler put Ferguson's 1990 John Hancock and 1993 Liberty bowl rings up for auction on eBay, but did not draw any bids.
DiMeo was asking $1,400 for each ring in the Internet auctions, which ended Wednesday night.
"Most people are afraid of the media attention," DiMeo said, adding 200 potential buyers courted him about side deals - with $1,200 as the highest offer per ring.
Ferguson declined to comment the night of the auctions' close, but said last week he didn't know how DiMeo got ahold of the rings.
He said he may have given them away and didn't think they were stolen.
About eight people visit DiMeo's two jewelry stores each day to look at the rings, DiMeo said. All the attention makes him wonder if he should even consider the side offers.
"They've been good media promotion," he said. "Do I even want to sell them?"
But while the media attention the rings have garnered may have been favorable to DiMeo, Trustee Colleen McNamara said it's been the opposite for Ferguson.
"He probably did give those rings away as a very nice gesture," she said.
"This has turned into a nightmare for him. It's been very unfair toward Trustee Ferguson."
Two sports bars have asked to put the rings on tour, much like the Stanley Cup, he said, and others have considered using them as an anti-Ferguson campaign tactic.
"People want to keep them for their own ill use," DiMeo said, adding they want to bring the rings back into the spotlight to keep Ferguson from being reelected.
DiMeo said he is also open to creative suggestions from MSU students about using the rings to raise money for charity.
"I have other MSU stuff, too," said DiMeo, who collects sports memorabilia. "These rings have really excelled my position of being an avid sports collector."
But DiMeo said despite the positive feedback he has received about the bowl rings, "I wouldn't wish these 15 minutes of fame on anyone."
DiMeo said Ferguson hasn't filed any criminal charges against him. Ferguson's lawyer, Patrick Reid, said last week he may file a police report.
