VALUABLE JEWISH RELICS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 744, 17 August 1929, Page 29

VALUABLE JEWISH RELICS

WORTH HALF A MILLION 600 YEARS OLD London is to become the home of one of the biggest collections of Jewish ritual ornaments and relics taken ! from synagogues all over the world, and dating from very early times that has ever been gathered together in the possession of a private individual. It is to be housed in the International Galleries in St. James's Street. For some years the relics have been in Paris, but already about a third of the collection has been brought to London, and the remainder is to follow it shortly. The collection has had a remarkable and romantic history, and has taken more than 600 years to get together. Valued for insurance purposes at more than half a million pounds, it is now in the possession of Mr. Schachna Moses Saloman, art dealer. It is to the untiring efforts of members of the Saloman family that the collection is due. “For six hundred years,” Mr. Saloman told a reporter, “my family have been making this collection. , Many of the ornaments are unique. Some of the relics date back to before the Christian era, and many have had a most romantic history. "An altar piece that comes from Spain was confiscated from the synagogue by the Inquisition and acquired by my family only at great risk. Other ornaments which also came from Spain were secretly smuggled out of the country by persecuted Jews, while still others were hidden in cellars and treasured secretly out of sight of the prying eyes of the Inquisition. “For hundreds of years my family acquired these valuable relics one by one. Kven the latest piece dates back in workmanship to the 16th century. Rabbi’s Miracles “During the last century my grandfather, the Rabbi Schachna Saloman, who lived in Russia, added considerably to the collection. He was a very venerated man, and was reputed to have worked miracles, such as healing the blind. Even today Jews make pilgrimages to his tomb uear Brest-Litovsk. “When the revolution came the collection was in Russia, and in spite of our efforts and pleadings, was confiscated by the Bolsheviks. We managed to escape with a few of the most valuable relics, and since I have been able to get the whole collection together again.” Mr. Saloman, who is a Russian, believes that London is the real art centre of the world, and has therefore taken his collection over there. “I have a great affection and admiration for the British,” he saidi “and I subject as soon as I can. It is my intention to bequeath my Jewish collection to the British nation in the hope that as soon as there is a suitable museum in Palestine they will be housed there.” Elaborate precautions have been taken to protect the valuable collection, and special safes and burglar alarms have been constructed at the International Galleries. A guard is on duty day and night. Mr. Saloman is also a collector of old masters, and has a splendid collection of pictures by famous masters of every school hung in his galleries in St. James's Street.