The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-04


for at least a generation. AS the head Of
the great landed family Of the country it
is fitting that Mrs. William Aston should
occur at once TO the mind of any investi
gator of the diamonds of New York. The
| Astor parure is well known in London
and Paris, though seldom seen except on
state occasions in New York. The dis
| tinguishing feature of this, as of most of
the gem collections here, is the great num-
Der of stones, moderate in size but perfect
in color and brflliancy.
There isn't any such gem as the Imperial
in New York jewel caskets, as far as known,
much less such one as the kohlnoOr,
about which poor Prince Dhulup Singh
lamented so pitifully the other day, or as
the Great Mogul, the 0rloff, the Regent or
the Jehan CHR Shah. 1t is possible that
there might be such a stone here without
the fact being known, but ii is barely
within the bounds of possibility, for
the great diamonds OF the world
are not so numerous but that the
diamond lover may and does follow them
from hand TO hand and from cline to
cline and from age to age with the keen
appreciation OF the expert, the love OF
the miser and the desire for the masterful
! and brilliant which unite to make the
| diamOnd-lust one OF the most universal,
powerful, and, at the same time, unique of
all human passions.
Everybody has heard of the Astor dia-
monds, but until the William X. and Cor
nelius Vanderbilt families came to the social
fore within the last decade, had anybody
ever heard of 'the Vanderbilt diamonds ?"
Who knows anything about 1.-THE Gould
diamonds?" The Clews diamonds are
somewhat famous on account of the
big pair OF ear drops from a diamond
broker, to establish the right of that
broker TO sell them. The ways OF diamond
brokers, by the way, are so peculiar as to
be past understanding by the outsider.
Miss Helen Gould is not a figure at the
balls and entertainments in general of New
York society people Her father is a man
of business, her mother was a lady of gen.
tie and retiring disposition. Yet those in
position to know say Miss Gould is the
owner of diamond necklace and pendant
and diamond bracelet which are not to
be excelled in New York for size and luster
OF the brilllants composing them. Mrs.
d. o. Mills and Mrs. Whitelaw Reid have
had excellent taste in collecting and
mounting, and this mother and daughter
have between them a diamond casket
which those who have seen say is mag
nificent.
Never heard fthe Rockefeller diamonds,
did you? John d. Rockefeller, perhaps
the richest man in the country next TO
John Jacob AstOr, is a good baptist and
makes great presents OF cash and bonds to
the educational and charitable institutions
of his church. Yet some small portion of
the Rockefeller wealth has gone into
precious stones, and that, too, with rare
discrimination. The next generation of
ROckefellers will probably be able to talk
about the Rockefeller diamonds" with
considerable satisfaction.
Nine. Barrios, widow OF the famous
dictator OF Guatemala, has as many big
diamonds as she has children; that is pay
ing high compliment to one of the finest
jewel cases in New York The late dicta-
tor put away good deal of the money he
laid up in coin; much of it in bonds and
fair proportion of il in diamonds. The
Misses Barrios will some day be able to
shine with the daughters Of kings in this
as in other respects.
Sonora DOna Isadora Cousino, the
famous South American who was said not
long since to contemplate residence in
New York, has quarts of fine brilliants
As ''the richest woman in the world" she
is entitled to have the finest collection of
precious stones and probably has it. She
is said to have thimble cut out of one
diamond, the heart of which. being de-
fective, she had chiselled out.
The duchess of Marlborough's d;a-
monds, which were her property when,
as Mrs. Hamersly. she was a figure in the
social world on this side OF the Atlantic,
made a distinguished showing when,
thanks to the good offices of the prince of
Wales on her husbands behalf, she was
presented at the court OF Queen Victoria
The duke had attended to too many af-
fairs for the prince to have the prince
fail him at that juncture, as people familiar
with the Ailesberry scandal are aware.
Mrs. Marshall o. Roberts has some fine
diamonds, but the glory of her jewel-case
is parure of pearls said to have no SUI
periOrs on Manhattan Island, in private
hands, at least Pearls and rubies and
sapphires indeed are as lightly valued now
as they were in biblical times. They were
the gems of the scriptural period. People
in bible days didn't wear and probably
knew nothing about diamonds, which are
the pets of modern civilization. Rubies
to-day are more highly valued than dia-
monds.
The biggest and in every way the best
ruby in existence, so far as connoisseurs
know, is on sale at famous shop in Lon
don. Ten thousand pounds is the price
asked for it. 1t is broader than a filbert
nut and gives out deep, red glow. Queen
Victoria sighed when she saw it, and de-
clared it had no parallel in the crown
jewels, and the duchess OF Edinburgh
carried it all the way to st. Petersburg for
the car to have look at it.
The worlds biggest and most beautiful
cat's-eye was taken to London not long
ago from Ceylon. 1t weighs 40 carats
and is insured for $4,000 rupees 1t casts
out four opalescent rays, which are said to
combine to form one single stream of light
Cat's-eyes of such brilliancy are now said
to sell for as much as diamonds. Ordinar-
lily the cats-eye is considered only a semi
precious stone.
Mile. Dosne is said to have the finest
private collection of pearls in Europe. She
was the sister-in-law of Theirs. The
biggest emerald in the world weighs 2.9SO
carats, and is in the imperial jewel Office
in Vienna.
An Argument.
Merchant Traveller.