The record-union., 1898-01-28

bezels, lifts from the hand in full relief
the model of the holy tabernacle of
the Ark Of the Covenant.
Bonnie Prince Charlie" smiles from
a beautiful miniature, and near by is
the ideal OF lovers ring an enameled
figure of cupid with spread wings ear
rying off a ruby heart, and the legend:
Stop Thief"
The great Merovingfan and Saxon
rings are among the rarest in the world
Seven hundred dollars was paid by the
| Museum for the bent and broken one
| Of Arhstan, Bishop of Sherburne.
"Inconographic" rings hold figures or
portraits of saints in the Russian style
Others are reliquaries for bits of the
true cross or fra gments of sanity toe
bones, while one represents Mary Mag
dalene being carried to heaven by four
angels. One, formed to fifteen small
crosses, was found on the fingers of a
skeleton; it had no power to stay the
hand of death.
OF great antiquity are the Roman
keyrings, used to keep the keys of pre-
cious chests or casks ever at hand, and
which in middle ages secured the cum
brous iron virtue lock- that husbands
fastened on their wives before going
to battle.
OF mystic rings there are many-the
medieval circlet of "incantation," the
charmed toad stone" and the South
German silyet set with VOLTS teeth.
A long coffin-shaped ring with three
| canoes, the center one representing
Cleopatra holding the asp to her heart,
is almost identical with one always
Worn by Cheiro, Of palnist fame
An ancient Venetian Of three chains,
holding a revolving turquoise, brown
with age, is engraved on one side with
Venus Anadyomene and on the other
with Ghostic cypher. Amid more costly
gems the turquoise holds it's own with
strange persistence. One great tur-
quoise cameo of the. Rape of Proserpine
in this collection is almost large enough
to cover the back of the hand, and there
are some beautiful examples of those
inlaid with Persian inscriptions.
In thumb rings the most splendid are
those given by the Popes to Cardinals
though they did not always accompany
the scarlet hat, and Wolsey's great
anxiety lest a ring should not be sent
with his precious headcovering stands
TeCOTQeO. III neTOlc size, luSy StdilNi
up several inches from the hand. and,
Of course, would be good in effect only
when worn with massive vesture.
Usually they are set in brass or bronze,
with great cabochons, or uncut stones.
One with the lion of st. Mark In alto is
crested with greenish chalcedony; those
most priced hold a rough emerald or
cabochon ruby. Thumb rings of a more
painful sort are the "thumbkins," or
thumbcuffs, used to hold the thumbs of
prisoners while their clothes We're being
cut from them. The example of South
Kensington was found behind the pam
cling of an old sixteenth century house.
The puzzle" rings Lord Lytton used
to characterize as ingenious stupidity
The baroque pearls of the Virgin del
Pillar and the grotesques of little jewel
ed men and animals are uningenious
stupidity.
The collection is rich in superb cameo
heads of those whom art has immor-
! talized-in Greek and Roman iTtaglii,
that in finest lines picture the loves and
the woes of the gods; but before the
wealth of precious stones the pen falls
helpless, as we have no adequate words
for these dazzling harmonies.-Pall
Mall Gazette.