THE FINCLEY COLLECTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 971, 14 May 1930, Page 8

THE FINCLEY COLLECTION

One of the. relics in the India OJLce Whitehall , -is a huge sUub of stone becrL ing an inscription bp Kebuchadnessar lj* the great King of Babylon. “If Abraham wrote cnything, this i* the kind of Cuneiform writing which used/’ said an official to a Reporter recently. Among the 200.000 volumes in the library is Tippn Sultans Register of Dreams, with interpretations »n his owi ha nd writing. Oliver Cromwell's signatu e is attached to one document in the library, and there is an interesting letter vrritten i>y Xels on. —Jfe-tna Item. aO often do paragraphs like the above appear in the news nowadays, that I think it may be appropriate and of general interest to describe some of the remarkable relics and curios, many almost unique, which are in the possession of a relative of mine. I refer to mv Aunt, Miss Martha Finchley, of Wai. kikamookau. whose reputation as a collector and connoisseur has gone so far before her. At least. I suppose it has gone before her—at any rate, her reputation hss undoubtedly gone. Of the many remarkable objects which comprise her collection, there are several beautiful examples of ancieDt jewellery, and of these, perhaps the finest is a marvellous piece of old oriental metal work in the form of a brooch. Judging from the word •'Mispah.” which is inscribed on the brooch and which is obviously some ancient Hebrew word, my Aunt holds that the object has historical significance. “If Solomon ever said anything to the Queen of Sheba.” said my Aunt in a paper which she recently read to the Waikikamookau Women's Uplift Society, “then this is what ne said.” . Another object of absorbing interest is a large slab or block of some kind of very old stone, on which are carved several cryptic letters and figures for which we have been quite unable to account.

M*.uo«iAF\OOtdAO sio*JE. From the appearance of the stone, a photograph of which is here produced, it might have formed part of an ancient Roman Forum, but this theory does not explain the inscription, nor does it reconcile itself with the peculiar place in which my Aunt discovered the stone, which was by the side of a large excavation in the pavement made by workmen who were laying a sewer pipe. On the whole, my Aunt is inclined toward the idea that this stone was once the leader page of some prehistoric newspaper, and she has written several letters to the papers advancing this theory. It is a curious coincidence that the recent news item quoted above should mention the Dream Book of Tippu Sultan, as among the most prized possessions of my Aunt is the authentic dream book which once belonged to a (Mrs.) Laura Pilkington who for many years wjs ■me of my Aunt’s neighbours. This rare volume contains much valuable information, including the methods whereby a gentleman may dream of his future wife or a lady of her future husband, t also explains he Language of 'lowers and gives -0 new Valentine messages and a cure for Bad Legs. Very instructive and learned. Other treasures in my Aunt's collection are a potato which has grown into the shape of Mrs. Laura Pilkington’s face, an oddly shapped lump of Kauri Gum. a glass marble with many beautiful blue and red curly lines in it (very quaint and pretty 1 a Fijian flyflapper or fan, a stuffed hawk and a lump of real white coral. She has also a genuine “No Parking - ’ sign (very rare in private collections) and a notice “Ladies Only.” These latter, however, are omy on view to bona fide collectors and students.