EC EXCLUSIVE Interview With Winning Bidder of Crundwell Trophies, Bridget Edgar
By: Brittany Bevis
The news broke this week that the winning bidder of the U.S. Marshal’s auction of trophies belonging to Rita Crundwell has been presented with her prize. Crundwell, former comptroller for the City of Dixon, IL. and famed Quarter Horse breeder, was arrested in April 2012 after it was discovered she embezzled more than $53.7 million from city coffers.
The recent U.S. Marshal’s sealed bid auction of Crundwell’s trophy collection is part of The Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Program, which “makes an effort to combat major criminal activity by disrupting and dismantling illegal enterprises, depriving criminals of the proceeds of illegal activity, deterring crime and restoring property to victims.” In addition, “proceeds generated from asset sales are used to operate the Asset Forfeiture Program, compensate victims and support various law enforcement and community initiatives.”
The winner of the 767 piece trophy lot was Bridget Edgar of Minnesota, who placed the winning bid of $5,560. Contained within the lot were AQHA World Show gold, silver, and bronze trophies, World Champion neck ribbons, Select World Show trophies, AQHA World Show Leading Breeder awards, NSBA Trophy Buckle cups, NSBA Breeder’s Championship Futurity cups, NSBA World Show trophies, All American Quarter Horse Congress trophies, and numerous plaques.
Now, Edgar is offering the trophies for sale via her Facebook page . Some of the prices posted include the following:
- AQHA World Show Gold Trophy with neck ribbon- $450
- AQHA World Show Silver Trophy- $325
- AQHA World Show Bronze Trophy- $325
- NSBA Trophy Buckle Cup- $125
- All American Quarter Horse Congress Trophy- $130
We had the opportunity to chat with Edgar to find out more about her decision to purchase the trophies and why she is now offering them for sale via her Facebook page. “The inspiration [to purchase the trophies] was only a whim at a fun adventure and an awesome husband who never questions what I get myself into!” Edgar says. “It was a sealed bid auction, so I just chose a random odd number and waited the month to see what would happen and who would be the high bid.”
There’s no doubt that purchasing trophies won by an exhibitor who’s not yourself and won with horses you don’t own is a very interesting purchase. We wondered if she considered this endeavor to be a form of investment.
“Ideally, I would like to get my money back and something for my time,” she says. “I really don’t know if this will make money or not, but I did think about how much money I was willing to gamble when putting in a bid. I didn’t see the trophies prior, so it was hard to tell the condition of them in the photos. I think I lucked out there – the trophies are in amazing shape.”
Then, there’s the question of how do you put a price on such a coveted item like a World Show or Congress Champion trophy? Edgar utilized eBay as a guide and researched the trophy replacement value from the award companies.
“The only hard part is that World Show trophies rarely end up on eBay. When they do, they might sell for $600 or more. I also thought about the fair price for everyone, the buyer and myself. It’s a lot of work to buy the correct size box, package these up, haul huge and heavy boxes to the post office, and sort through all the emails and trophies.”
Now, Edgar is looking to give first dibs on the trophies to the owners of the horses the awards were won by. She explains why, “I’ve owned and shown horses for all of my life. I feel it’s only right to allow the people who now own Rita’s horses first rights at the trophies their horses have won. If I ever had the opportunity to buy my horse’s top awards from previous owners, I absolutely would.” So far, Edgar says she has received numerous inquiries from current horse owners and have already been shipping out items so they will be received in time for Christmas.
We also wondered how this project has been received by the public and the horse community in general. Edgar says she’s received nothing but positive comments and support thus far.
“Everyone has been very positive about this so far,” she says. “All of the comments I have received have been of thanks for doing this. I think the U.S. Marshals thought this was great too, because they had many people who only wanted to purchase one or two trophies, but the U.S. Marshals had no way to offer that type of auction, given the size and complexity of this lot of awards. This is a huge job, but so far it has been fun finding a special trophy for someone with their horse’s name on it. You can feel the joy when I tell them I found the exact trophy their horse won and they can proudly display it in their homes.”
Interested parties can view Crundwell’s trophies on Edgar’s Facebook page or by emailing AQHAtrophies@gmail.com.
