IF JEWELS COULD SPEAK.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2102, 13 March 1920, Page 4

IF JEWELS COULD SPEAK.

ROMANCES OF THE WORLD’S

REGALIA

(By John Blunt.)

Of'"all famous jewels, none have suffered such vicissitudes as those which form part of the regalia of royalties. The supposed mysterious theft of Prince YoussoupofFs hundred diamonds from his home at Knightshridge is hut another link in the long chain of, royal jewel mysteries which invariably follow in the wake of wars and revolution. Russia has ever been the home of famous jewels. The late Czar’s crown was valued at nearly a quarter of a million pounds. One of its diamonds —the Orloff, brother to the Kohri-noor —said to have formed one of the eyes of a golden lion whicli guarded the throne of the. Great Mogul at Delhi. It was prized out of its socket in the dead of night by an Armenian brigand, who made a slash in his thigh and so conveyed it to Petrograd. Thus the old legend. Our own Crown jewels are wmind thick in romance —most of which is authentic. The Black Prince's ruby, a great glittering thing of blood and lire, rests in the King’s crown this day. < Queen Elizabeth’s ear-rings hang from their golden arches, untouched in their delicate gilt settings, just as she wore them on her coronation day. LUST FOR GEMS. The records and inventories drawn up by I lie King’s jewellers of old are astonishing in their low valuations. In Kilt) an inventory was taken of the crown regalia of Charles 1., in which the “imperialle crowne of massy gonlde” was valued at Jtl/flO, and “King Alfred’s crown of goulde wyerworke, sell with big and slight stones and littel bells" at £1M8! To-day they would ransom Royally from a Raisuli! Not a few crooks of to-'day, and bold, bad men of the olden times, have cast longing eyes at our Crown regalia. A handful of the more during have even attempted to steal them. A certain Colonel Blood planned a daring 1 scheme. Dressed as a par-r-on, lie 1 slipped into the Tower, overpowered the old keeper of the jewels, and leaving him slabbed and strangled, got away with the sceptre and crown, only to he run to earth by mounted cavaliers. Ilis end is lost in the dim fogs of the Tower, where he was sent for a time to keep* the jewels company by Charles 11.

Blood’s effort had its uses. A stronger guard Avas pul over the jewels, which to-day are protected by a series of electrical appliances which Avouid defy at teas! half a di/zen Raffles and a handful of Arsene Lupins! Every country has-had its jewels stolen at some time or another. The Mazarin diamonds of France passed a decade of glittering excitement. Many of Marie Antoinette’s gem stones have found a homo in America; the Scotch crown Avhich sat on the head of Alary the Unfortunate and Bruce the victor of Bannockburn, was hidden for years by a faithful woman, who tied Avith il( from Cromwell’s soldiery. Richard 111. of England-pawned his eroAvn to Flanders. - EASTERN TREASURE. The Gulch. jcAvels, loo,.Avere stolen iu 1S2!), and in 17!)2 the Garde Meuhle of Paris Avas broken into and robbed of its glittering regalia. Mecca, which every good Mahomedau hopes to A'isit, houses the jewelled Swords and turban ornaments of many a -caliph—the stories raid legends of these ancient scimitars would form a ucav “Arabian Nights" in themsoh'es. Authentic romance is a characteristic of the English crown jcAvels. The monks and abbots avlio had charge of the coronation jewels of •EdAvard the Confessor have left us much in Avriting to substantiate the old stories)*for our early kings had a Avay of carrying their regalia with them Avherevor they journeyed. Where the king Avoid, there followed the clergy. Henry V.- Avore his eroAvn at Agineourt, and it saved his life. The Due d’Alencon aimed u mighty blow-at Henry’s head, and shaved off —half his gold eroAvn. Richard Avore his at BosAVorth Field, Avhere it Avas hidden in a bush and afterwards- found by Sir Reginald Bra v.

The jewels in the ToAver to-day are probably unsurpassed in the whole Avorld. There are at any rate fc*AV Avho can challenge their superiority, unless maybe the cotters of some Indian potentate hold a stone more glittering, more pure, and more Valuable than the famous Star of South Africa, Avhich graces King George's CroAvu.