Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-03-28
The Esterhazy Jewels.

AZ itSt theSt tdiuOuS JcWelS, WnlCn IOT
more than three-quarters of century
have, when worn by the princes Of the
great house of Esterhazy, excited the ad-
miration of the chief courts of Europe,
come under the hammer of the auction
eer, and are to be no more worn-at least
by men. There are few who have not
heard, traditionally, of the surprising
splendor and value of these gems the
jewelled. boots, the diamond ornaments,
and the pearl suit of the Esterhazys,
have been almost as well known at our
own and foreign courts as the reigning
sovereign himself The history Of this
passion for precious stones, which in one
branch of the Esterhazy developed itself
almost into d mania, may be very briefly
told. Toward the close of the last CEN
tury, Nicholas Prince Esterhazy attend
ed the coronation of Francis III as King
of Hungary. On that occasion he was
captain of what may be termed the
Kings body guard-that is to say, he
was at the head of a troop of "a princes
and mobiles only inferior to himself in
rank and wealth. The first of the Jew
elled uniforms was made for this pageant.
Every part of the equipment of an Of
ficer's dress which should have been of
metal, was made of pure brilliants of the
finest water, and the effect, as may be
was SO dJ dCeTeI1OTy
where all was meant to be display, that
the prodigal prince continued to increase
his lavish OstentatiOn in the same way,
till, as we have said, the jewelled suits of
the Esterhazys became the talk of the
courts of Europe. AS the feudal propri-
etOr of nearly one-third of Hungary, the
owner of thirty-three manors, and suz-
eraine of seventeen lordships, he found
little difficulty in gratifying his taste for
precious stones, and, indeed, the family
gems alone supplied enough to deck an
Empress. These fashioned into the most
extraordinary and almost priceless orna-
ments-these sown over uniforms till the
fabric was literally stiff and cumbrous
with their weight-were worn by Prince
Nicholas and Prince Paul at the corona
tiOn of Francis III and George w, Will
liam and Victoria, and at the coronation
of both the last and present Emperors of
Austria and Russia
The last Prince, Paul, died deeply in
debted at the commencement of last
year. His estates were of course entailed,
but his private property-those jewels
among the rest-passed into the hands OF
his creditors, and by them or their trus.
tees have been sold to Mr.. Boore, of 54
Strand, where they are now on view
! previous to being broken up and sold
| oSpdtdSCiN az So huCil pei CARAT, dCCOIu-
ing to the value of the gem. Their ar.
rival and intended sale in this country
has created asort of panicin the diamond
market, where the prices have lately
ruled extraordinarily high, and this sud-
den consignment of jewels, containing
more than fifty thousand brilliants-
many of immense value, to say nothing
of the emeralds, rubies, topazes, and
pearls-has of course had a certain effect
upon present prices. The most conspicu.
Gus and the most valuable among all
these splendid ornaments is the diamond
aigrette, or plume of diamonds, which
in place of ordinary feathers Prince
| Nicholas used to wear in his Hussar cap
This is said to he the largest diamond
ornament in the world. The plumes con.
tain nearly five thousand brilliants
which weigh in the aggregate pound
and a half. The height of the whole
ornament is sixteen inches, and its width
ten inches, every part being built up Of
clear set diamonds of the purest color
With this round the Hussar cap, is worn
a loop and tassel of rows of pearls and
brilliants, and the tassel and pendants
contain some stones of great price. The
diamond-mounted sword and scabbard
are quite in keeping with the head-dress
and are of brilliants of the rarest kind
to hang from the shoulder to the waist
is. perhaps, the most valuable of all. II
is a mere band of the finest diamonds
and pearls, one stone at the top being es
timated at the value of 100000, and ont
at the bottom at G12,000. With these
among snuff boxes and single diarhondl
are shown the late Princes orders.
The gradual progress of the taste fo
iewelry can be easily traced in these
latter. There are no less than six order
of the Golden Fleece. The first Is tn,
ordinary order, in itself sufficiently mag
nificent, but from this larger and NOR,
made, till the fifth and sixth are probably
of their kind unequaled by any jewele(
orders i'm the world. The fifth is com
posed entirely of the largest and fines
brilliants, with the fleece formed in vel
low diamonds. The sixth jewel is of dia
monds and emeralds, and contains wha
is said to be the best formed and bes
colored emerald of it's size which is known
to exist. With these are also the order
of the Bath and st. Andrew, in diamonds
1t is, however, in the pearl suit, as il i
called, that the extravagant ostentatioi
of the Princes is most strikingly ant
most conspicuouly displayed. This |
the full uniform of a General of Hun
garian Hussars. and every part of 1t
massive and singularly beautiful EN-
broidery-jacket, pelisse and trowsers-
is formed entirely of costly pearls. Th
weight of this superb costume is such a
would be cumbersome to men of ordi
nary strength, even forashort time. 1t |
calculated that more than a peck of pearls
some of great beauty and value, hav
been used in the adornment of this sui
alone. The exquisite patterns In whicl
the gems are sewn on are almost NOR
worthy of admiration than the pearl
themselves. The whole collection will
. remain ON view at Mr.. Boore's for som
two or three weeks to come. The dis
play is well worth seeing, not only for II
extraordinary value and splendor, but a
a still more extraordinary illustration {
the lengths to which personal displa
can rise even among men, when once tn
passion is indulged in.