The story behind Precious Moments beginnings, is quite unique.  While at a Los Angeles, California trade show in 1978, Eugene Freedman, then CEO and Chairman of Enesco Corporation, was struck by  a young man named Sam Butcher and his series of Precious Moments greeting cards.  The cards depicted a number of teardrop-eyed children, each portraying a different inspirational message of comfort and hope.  Freedman immediately realized the potential within the artist.  However, when he offered to turn the cards into a line of collectible figurines, Butcher initially refused, claiming that the illustrations would lose their message in three-demensional form. 

Freedman , nonetheless, brought one of  the the cards to his longtime friend, Japanese sculptor Yasuhei Fujioka and asked him to create a porcelain figurine of the drawing.  Butcher was so overwhelmed when he saw how perfectly the outcome expressed his message, that, when he saw the piece, be began to weep with joy.  Thus Precious Moments was born.
That piece, now known as Precious Moments, "Love One Another", went on to become one of 
the 21 Precious Moments figurines to make their debut at a trade show in Chicago that Fall.  The 
Original 21, as those first pieces are called, were highly successful and Precious Moments quickly 
began expanding as Sam Butcher, Eugene Freedman and Yasuhei Fujioka teamed up to bring more of 
Butcher's messages of loving, sharing and caring to the world.  To date, the Precious Moments 
collection includes over 1,600 pieces; including ornaments, 
bells, plates, hinged boxes, thimbles and more.

Click Here to see all of the Original 21 Precious Moments
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