JEWELS WORN BY SOME WOMEN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1124, 13 July 1882, Page 2

JEWELS WORN BY SOME WOMEN.

It is told by a prominent dealer in. precious stones that most of our.diamonds come from South Africa and. Brazil. In ■ln llielatt.tr place they were discovered during the close of the last century,? The largest ever found there is the " Star of J iho South" which' weighs 124 carats. .In 1837 the childen of a Dutch fartoei. 1 : were foftrfdby a traveller playing with a "shiny winch he gave themsixpenco for, andsold in Paris afterwards for £25,000. In this country diamonds have been found only in Georgia, South Carolina; California, and Arizona, but they'are small, and not of the first water. 1 My'informant said it was a great mistake.to suppose that diamonds are sold according to their size. This only holds good up to the medium grade, above .that the difficulty of finding purchasers increases, and many a de>ler has found a big diamond an elephant.' on his hands and had to sell it'a sacrifice. The hand somest" diamond necklace I have ever seen in this country, belonged to that very 'i binvoiced, prima jdonna, Mme. Ombre, and of the Crown jewels of Holland. A necklace was. mqde of a' band of pliant gold, studded with large" l stones. From it hung pendants of fullblown roses, rosebuds and leaves in clusters; the flowers were incrusted with diamonds, and the leaves composed entirely of emeralds, From these depends in turn a floral fringe of fine diamonds, and when worn the fairy-like Bplendour of the ornament can scarcely bo imagined, ho wonder the singer had two policemuii behind the scones when she had it on. The necklace the Khedive of Egypt sent Genera! Sherman's daughter on her mai riage could not be compared to it; and altl, nugh the papers estimated the value of it at a Customhouse'officer tol.l ih'e : it was valued at £3OOO.

Annie Louise Cary iB said to own the largest and moat perfect emerald in the world. It was bought at the sale of Queen Isabella's jowela in Paris, weighs 23 carats, and is valued at £IO,OOO. It is set in a broad band ..of Soman »nld, studded with twenty-four large diamonds. Apropos of our favorite contralto, sho has sung into her treasury £10,000.,

Airs Bonanza Maokayvplaima- to. haye the largest'sapphire in the world, liwaa bought .from-..a I 'Polish, nobleman' ; -.for 800,000 Irancsj is of the' most superb blue, and over an inch in diameter/'She'ha«' also a set of coral of the faint pink, which resembles opals. It includes 16 piejea for the toilet, and each piece, is 'set in diamonds, the whole valued at £'25,000.

Laura Fair, who has £IO,OOO 'worth of diamonds, wears a superb set of blood red rabies, which, by the way, are only, sapphires of another color, The, largest. on record belong to the Crown jewels, and among them is one that the-Duchess of Edinborough wears en stale occasions.

Mme. Elise, the famous bare-back rider of Paris, rides in a costume in which diamonds take the place of spangles on'her tarletan skirts, and anarch of these starry stones bridges her dusky hair. Janauechek has a wonderfully beautiful colleotibiijof jewelry", 'irioludin? a set of turquoise; in which: the over 500, and.acurious.set of. carbuncles given her by a Tm'kish.dignitary who saw her..play in Vieiins.' "In - "the role'of "Lady. Deadlock'"' she, never we'arajjess than £15,000 worth of jewels. '"■'' " ■