Bone chips go for $1K

Jeff Nelson's bone chips have found a new home — but not necessarily a final resting place.

David DeLay, a 36-year-old filmmaker and youth coach from Maple Valley, delivered the winning bid of $1,000 for Nelson's chips, removed surgically on May 10. The sum will be matched by radio station KJR (950 AM), with all funds going to the Curtis Williams Foundation.

DeLay wants to see if he can raise even more money for the Curtis Williams Foundation by auctioning off the chips again. Bidding reached $23,600 last week when the bone chips were placed on eBay, but the Internet auction site removed the item, citing their policy against selling body parts.

"My goal is to get it back up to $23,600, so they (the foundation) can get that money," DeLay said.

Upon notification of his winning bid yesterday morning, DeLay put the bone chips up for auction on Amazon.com.

"I know they'll pull it off, too," he said, "but if anyone bids, I'll grab their e-mail so I can contact them."

DeLay will be presented the chips — in a jar signed by Nelson — at KJR when the Mariners return from their upcoming trip. But he has no desire to be anything but a holding station.

"I don't even want to touch the jar," he said with a laugh.

DeLay is the baseball coach at Rose Hill Junior High in Redmond and also coaches the select basketball team from Lake Washington — both schools that he attended.

"I love the Mariners, love the Huskies," he said. "I'm a real homer."

Nelson was happy to learn after yesterday's Mariners game that his bone chips might continue to raise charitable funds.

"Heck, to start out as a little laugh and make $2,000, that's not bad," he said. "This was something I was just going to throw away. They're bad memories for me."