The San Francisco call., 1896-04-26
VALUE OF JEWELS.
An Interesting Address Delivered in
st. Louis.

st. Louis.
Goodman King delivered a lecture on
"The Value of Jewels before the Young
Women's Self-culture Club, says the St.
Louis Globe-Democrat. Mr.. King dealt
with his theme from two points of view,
the artistic and sentimental and the purely
commercial, the latter, however, being
given only a secondary place. From the
remotest ages of antiquity, he said, jewels
had been highly priced, not only for their
intrinsic value and their usefulness for
ornamentation, but because they were sup
posed to possess magical virtues, which as
sured their wearers against dangers and
evils of every nature. Thus various stones
were assigned to different months OF the
year, so that those who wore the stone
dedicated to the month in which they
from danger by this magical influence
For the month of January the garnet was
used, slgnifying constancy; for February
the amethyst, signifying contentment; for
March the bloodstone, signifying courage;
for April the diamond, signifying inno-
cence; for May the emerald, signifying sue
cess in love; for June the pearl, signify
ing purity; for August the lnoonstone, for
conjugal felicity; for Septe mber the sap
phire, as preventive of evil; for October
the opal, representing hope; for Novem-
Der the topaz, representing fidelity of
friendship: for December the turquoise,
representing prosperous life.
Tracing the existence of jewels to the
very remotest time by sacred and profane
history. Mr.. King declared that we of to-
day came by natural right and its heritage
to love of Jewels. That love was not due
simply to vulgar taste, as cynics with re-
fnement and cultivation dead within them
would have US believe, for 1t served wise
purpose, by cultivating that love of the
beautiful planted IL US by nature in what
ever form nature has seen fit to produce
it. Among the owners OF the most famous
pearls in the world came, first the Shah of
Persia He possessed one called the Haver-
nien, taking its title from a French jeweler.
Its value is estimated at $3.50, 200. The
Empress of Germany was the owner of q
necklace of thirty-two pearls, valued at
$125, 900. Queen Victoria also owned an
exquisite necklace OF pink pearls, valued at
$4,000. The most famous pearl necklace
in the United States was that which be-
longed to the Vanderbilts, given as bridal
gilt to the young Duchess OF Marlborough
on the occasion of her recent marriage. 1t
was over three yards long, and was made
up of single pearls, each costing not less than
$4,000. the total value being estimated at
81 ,500,0O The Queen of Italy was some.
tlLhoo Se1AioN Vio Seoeu VI S1iio, peSduSe
of her passionate fondness for those en-
blems of purity. Every year her husband
presents her with necklace composed of
them as an anniversary gift.
The Dowager Empress of Russia, as
well as the Rothschild family, was the
possessor of a magnificent collection of
pearls more valuable than those which
had been mentioned. The largest diamond
in the world was said to be the Braganza.
1t belonged to the King of Portugal, and it
is said weighed 1880 carats, but it has never
been cut, being in the original state in
which it had been found, and grave doubts