Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-02

which is as big as your fist and which
shines like 6 diamond. There is an
amethyst which in wonderfully beauti-
full. II was found in North Carolina and
is supposed to have been used by the men
of pre- historic times. 1t was originally
IN the shape of Il turtle. but Professor
Clarke tells ne it wat spoiled in the cut
ting. There are also Oriental anne
thysts, aud the aineihysts from Brazil
shoG all the changes of that stone
from q light pink to 6 dark purple.
The models of all the great damon DIS
of the world are here, and there are en-
eralds from New Mexico and from South
America. Four lOEg bottle green Bra
lillian emeralds of two carats each are
very fine, and another which Professor
Dana bought in Peru is over an inch
long. There are topazes from Siberia,
saphires from North Carolina, and gar
nets from Bohemia, Ceylon, South
Africa aud New Mexico. New Mexico
furnishes the finest garnets in the world
i'll point of color, and it seems TO be the
precious stone region Of the United
States. A curious stone exhibit has just
been received from Siberia. 1t is bowl
of fruit made of precious stones carved
out so naturally that one would mistake
them for the original. There are red
raspberries and luscious black cherries,
straw berries and currents resting on
leaves of green serpentine which are
more natural in their appearance than
the famed COW of Sculptor Nvron which
was so lifelike that it imposed upon q
living calf.
UNCLM SANS GOLD NINE.
In another quarter of the museum
Uncle Sam keeps his geld in the rough.
Under glass cases there are great Jumps
of quartz with the gold shining out in
more or less delicate veins. The mines
of the far west are we'll illustrated, and
in some of the specimens nuggets of gold
are seen. In a great safe of steel, be-
hind glass doors, there are dozens of lit
tie boxes containing gold dust and other
boxes on which there are nuggets of pure
gold OF all sizes, from the head of q pin
10 the size of your fist. Some of this
gold came from placer min g, other
plates contain the products of noted
leads, and on 4 shelf over all are two
round pieces of gold as thick as your
wrist and about two inches long. These
are quite valuable and they are made of
solid gold. They came from the vaults of
the treasury, and no one knows how they
ever got there. There are thousands of
dollars worth of pure gold in this safe,
and 1 was shown quartz specimens in
glass cases of less than the size of your
fist which had twenty-fiv dollars worth
of gold imbedded in them.
FORTUNES IN RELICS.
The most valuable of the jewels of
Uncle Sam, however, are those which
are found in the relics of our great men
near the entrance TO the museum. These
the intrinsic value of the gold aud the
jewels of which they are made up, to say
nothing of their costly workmanship.
There are swords by the dozens set with
diamonds, guns inlaid with precious
stones, and canes which have heads of
gold in which are embedded jewels which
would shine at any White House recep-
ton. These jewels are so valuable that
n guard is detailed to watch them night
and day. Each case has a burglar alarm
connected with il so that the least med
ding with il would set an electric bell to
ringing, and would call the museum
army together from every direction.
The Grant collection alone is worth a
fortune II is made of hundreds of gold
articles exquisitly carved and brought
together from all parts of the world. of
rare stones, of china more valuable than
though it were of solid gold. and OF other
articles which would, if melted down,
fully pay the presidents salary for a
year and more. In one case there is q
complete collection of gold and silver
coins OF JsDan. which has wonderful