Berlin Wall Best Buy at $8.97 a Piece

When the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, few people thought its pieces would fall as far as Oklahoma City.

But now, for a price, you can have a chunk of the Berlin Wall all your own, or give it as a gift to the person with everything.

At least three metro-area department stores have pieces of the wall for sale, ranging in price from $8.97 to $15.

"They're doing very well. We've only had them for 10 days," said Bill Earnheart, manager of Foley's Department Store at Crossroads.

"I'll be surprised if they don't sell out."

A Foley's spokeswoman, Cherri Carbonara, called the wall's merchandising "a piece of history. ... People feel they're a part of it. It's a snapshot in time."

One store manager, Wilbur McKiddy of Service Merchandise, said the pieces were moving pretty well at his store, but he hadn't paid much attention.

"The buyer just shipped them. I haven't really looked at them," McKiddy said.

The stones, ranging from one to two ounces, come in a pouch with a certificate of authenticity.

The sellers also promise the pieces contain no asbestos.

"One of my first questions was if they had been verified not to have asbestos," Earnheart said.

"It's a significant event that happened in your lifetime. People want to hold on to that," said Nardi Hobler, spokeswoman for Venture Stores Inc. in St. Louis. "We shipped about 250 to each Oklahoma City store."

Twenty people in Oklahoma City won a piece of the wall by writing an essay for a local radio station.

"We got a lot of good essays," said Bill O'Brien, program director for KRXO-FM. "We got between 300 and 400." BIOG: NAME:

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