The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-22
THINGS that COME HIGH.
1hs New York Unfinished Capitol
The Costliest Building Of
Modern Times.
Rhiladelphia's Municipal Hall Cost
Almost as Much >as the
State Building.
= single Dish At . Feast That Cost $780,
0O0-Worth Its Weight In
Gold.

The state capitol at Albany. N. Y. eve
In its unfinished state. igthe c~ostliest built
Ing Of modArn times. Nineteen million 81
hundred thousand dollars have been. OF
pended upon il to date. The capitol q
Washington from the year 1898, when II
corner atone vas laid, had cost mp to 1S7s
including ali its expensive furniture its al
most annual alterations and repairs, les
than SIS, 100000.
The most expensive municipal hall in tn
world and the largest in the United state
ID the city building. of Philadelphia npol
whose yet unfinished tower tho larRes
clock in the world il to DO displayed. NO
body knows exactly how much money II
has cost, but il can not be TAR in the aggre-
rate from the amountlinvested in tho state
house Of New York.
The most expensive legislature in the
world ia that of France. which costs annu-
ally rs, COO, 900. The Italian parliament
costs $430. 900 a year.
The next to tho highest price ever paid
Tor a horse in tho world wasthe 100000 for
which the ~trotter, Axtell, was sold in lpdi-
ana at the age of three years, It's true tho
local tax assessor only valued the horse for
the purposes of his returns at $500. and Ak
tells owners neighbors grew indignant
thereat. Whereupon the owners observed
that if their horse flesh was assessed at
anything like the figures which they paid
for him they would move him out of the
state. ana the indignation quieted down.
AZ that time it was the highest. Blu on
Jan, II, 1882. Arion was sold by Senator
Leland Stanford for $15O,OOO That beats
all prices.
The next highest price ever paid for q
horse in the United States was the $1,000 0
given by Charles Reed, of tho Fairview
farm. Tennessee. for the great stallion st.
Blaise at a sale III Now York city in Ooto-
Der. 1891.
A buff leghorn pullet showed at the
chicken fair at Madison Square garden on
January, 1892, was valued at 500.
The c~ostliest paintings of modern times
have proven to be Meissonler's 'lSl4' and
Millet's .'The Angelus." M. Chsuohard
gave $4,000 francs (S170,NO) for ''lSl4'
and 750. GOO francs ($l50,Wo) for .ihe An,
$66, 600 for Meissonler's "Friedland. 1907
and presented it to the Metror olitan mu-
scum Of art. That was the highest price
ever paid for q modern picture until The
Angelus'' was sold at the Seoretan sale for
b53,OOO francs. OF course the after sales of
the two great pictures mentioned broke
even this record.
The shah of Persia has a tobacco pipe
worth $40O,0 600.
The most costly book in the world is de-
CIdreQ TO De Il I16DTeW bIOIe, HOW Ill Tue
vatican. In the year 1912 it is said that
Pope Jules II. refused to sell this Hebrew
Bible for its weight in gold. which would
amount to S103, 600. This is the greatest
price ever offered for a book.
In the year 1876 a tulip bulb was sold in
Holland for g.. 200. 1t weighed 200 grains.
The ~costliest meal ever served as far as
history shows was tt supper given by Aellus
Verus, one of the most lavish of all Romans
Of the latter day. to a dozen guests. Tho
cost of this supper was 5000 sestertia.
which would amount to e4S. 500, or nearly
a quarter of a million dollars. A cele-
brated feast given by Vitellius. a Roman
emperor of those degenerate days, to his
brother Lucius. cost a little over
100000. S%netonius says thut this ban
quet consisted of 1000 different dishes
Of Ash and 1000 different fowls, besides
other courses in proportion. Vitellius, for
t~unately for his exchequer, did not reign
very long, else that would have been ex-
hausted, as we'll as the game preserves of
Libya, Spain and Britain and the waters Of
the Carpathinn and Adriasic seas. One
dish alone at the table of the emperor
Heliogabulus cost $200,OO0
The largest sum ever asked or offered for
a single diamond ia !e430, 600. which the
Nizam of Hyderabad agreed to give TO Mr..
jacobs, the famous jeweler of Simla, for |
the "lmperial" diamond, which is even now |
in litigation in India. This is considered
the finest stone in the world.
The c~ostIiest ton on record was a broken
nosed wooden horse which belonged to Ma
pOleon Bonaparte and was sold q year or
two ago for 1000 francs.
The c~ostliest cigars ever brought to this
country were a box of the brand specially
made for the prince of Wales in Havana,
the manufacturers price for which was
$l87 apiece. Quite a popular cigar among
some of the rich men of New York is a
special Henry Clay, which Gomez in a hand
some box. wrapped in gold foil and retails
1t Sl.4O apiece.
The largest price ever paid for a cane was
bid at an auction in London of the walking
sticks which were once the property of
George III. and George ". 1t was lis or
$50, and was given for a walking stick of
ebony with a gold top engraved &C. r."
and with a crown, and also containing the
hair of the Princesses Augusta Elizabeth,
Mary Sophia and Amelia. and Inscribed.
"The gift of the Princess Mary, 1904"
The %costliest mats in the world are owned
BY the shah of Persia and ths sultan of
Turkey. The shah and sultan each possess
. mat made of pearls and diamonds valued
At over :. 1000 600. The largest mat ever
made is owned by the Carlton club, Of Lon
don. and Is q work of art.
The most extensive royal regalias in the
world are said to be those of tho Nj aharra-
jah, Of Baroda, India. First comes a cor
geous collar containing 500 diamonds, AZ
ranged in five rows, some of these as large
a. wv oho 1OW q | 8ul-
sralds OF equal size relieves the luster of
the diamonds. A pendant is com posed of
q single brilliant called the star of ths
Deccan." and there are aigrettes, nook
!aces, bracelets, rings and chains to match.
The maharraj abs own special CARPET. lOxG
feet III extent. made entirely of pearls with
. big diamond in the center and in eoch
corner. cost 81 500. 600.
The most valuable gold ore ever 1nined in
she United States, and probably in the
world, was a lot containing POO pounds Of
quartz, carrying gold at the rate of nc, 600
a ton. This quartz was taken from the
main shaft OF the Michigan gold m,ne at
lshpeming. Assays from the same lot
showed that other portions of it were worth
Sic, 958 a ton.
The greatest SUM ever paid for teleornnb
soils in one week by a Newspaper was the
expenditure of the London Times for cahle
service from Bucnos Ayres during the
revolution In the Argentine Republic. The
cost of cabling from Buenos Ayres tn
london was $l.75 n word, end the Vimcs
paid out $50, 900 for one weeks dispatcbas.
This was an admirable thing to do
from n journalistic point Of view, as MANY
millions Of English money were Invested in
the city OF Buenos Ayres and in the Argen-
tine Republic outside, and this was nil
jsopardizsd by the revolution.
w. j. Florence, the comedian, once
offered $4,000 for a catch phrase nhout
which an American comedy could be writ
ten. Nobody supplied the demand. and
this, the c~ostlieSt phrase on recent record.