The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-03-28
COST A FORTUNE.
Hundreds of Fair Vanderbilt
Wedding Gifts
And the Cost Will Exceed
$I,OOO,OOO.
DIAMONDS AND PEARLS
Mrs. o. I'll. p. Belmont Gives a
Riviere of 80 s tones
The Smallest of Which Is Like
a SparrOW's Egg.

New York, March 2s.-If Miss Vir-
ginia Fair were a queen and w. K
Vanderbilt, Jr., a prince, 1T is very I'M
likely that they would receive wedding
presents as costly as those that they,
simple young Americans, will get upon
the occasion of their marriage. There
are hundreds of these presents. 1t will
be impossible to put an estimate on
their value that would be at all accur-
ate At least one of them is worth $780,
600. All told, the cost of the entire lot
will be considerably more than $1,000,-
OO0
OF course. neither the VanderbiltS nor
the Fair relatives have made any APP
praiSal of the cost of the extraordinary
assortment of diamonds and other prec-
1OuS stones which have been worked up
by the clevereSt and most artistic jew
elers an the world into tokens of affec-
ton and wishes for the future happi-
ness of the young people.
Among the very remarkable presents
are two huge solid silver trays, given
TO the young couple by Mrs. Shepard.
These are so heavy that when they
were brought out for a visitor to see it
took two men to carry them. On the
surface of the trays in relief, on an en-
bOSSed ground, are old English paint
tngs, religious in character. This COM
bination of color and silver is most I'M
usual and most effective. Few of those
who have seen the trays had ever be-
fore come across anything of the kind.
The cost of this work must have been
enormous.
Mrs. o. H. P. Belmont, the mother
of the bridegroom, from whom some
thing magnificent was expected, fully
justified the ideas of her friends. She
has sent what is possibly the finest dia-
mond riviere in the world, apart from
royal and imperial collections. 1t is
made up of very large stones, some of
them as big as the proverbiaI pigeons
hlra cd civ Ia nv he TxT9X
which at is very hard to keep out of
this article, for the presents include so
many diamonds that are best described
an that way. These are old mine stones,
blue-white. They sparkle and fairly
dance in the sunlight
The riviere was purchased from a
princely house of France, a family that
had possessed the gems through genera
riviere, the smallest of which is as large
as an almond and which in itself would
be worth a small fortune The riviere
is set in SilVer-the old-faShioned GUS
tom of France. 1t is likely that it will
be reset in platinum as silver furnishes
and must be polished after each use.
1t is very unlikely that anything in the
way Of a riViere was ever put together
that nearly approaches in beauty or
value this splendid wedding present
from Mrs. Belmont
Mr.. w. K. Vanderbilt, whose enor-
nous wealth allows him if he likes to
buy the total output of a diamond mine
and select the very best for his daugh-
ter-in-law, chose on this occasion to
purchase pearls. He has sent her a
pearl necklace that in every respect eX-
GELS any of recent collection The rope
of pearls which the late August Bel
mont spent Is years in collecting, is the
only one to compare with it. Each pearl
Us perfect Comparisons IN the jeWelry
line are very difficult to make, as ex-
perts differ, but in all human probabili-
ty no Indian or Persian princess ever
wore anything in pearls approaching
the necklace that will go around the
slender neck of Miss Fair.
a rather strange, quaint present
comes from Mrs Aston. 1t is a brooch
made in imitation of a piece Of the BARI
of a tree. Upon the brooch are five
small birds made of sapphires, a jewe
Indicative of affection. There is some
thing quaint and almost humorou:
signed and finished. There is certainly
nothing else like it in the country.
From Mr.. John w. Mackay come.
the finest piece of jewelry ever made il
America, so jewelers. say. 1t is a dia.
mond ornament, a sort of half stom
acher and half breaStplate to cover tn
whole front of Miss Fairs dress, from
the bust down to her waist line. Dia
monds have been employed in this or
nament in a way suggesting that MI
Mackay bought them by the wholesale
In addition to this being the finest AM
most artistic piece of jewelry ever pu
together in this country, it is also tn
most expensive. Mr.. Mackay is es
pecially interested in Miss Fair H
and her father were old friends togethe
many years ago, when neither had eve
seen a diamond except through the plat
glass window of a jewelers. store, an
when neither would have dreamed o
buying one, even if they were as low il
price as 81 each A few years later bot
men, profiting by the fortunes of min
ing, had more money than they kney
what to do with.
On this ornament are flowers and pat
terms artistically worked in diamond
and gold. When Miss Fair wears thi
the front of her dress there will b
no room for any other ornaments; i
fact. the dress underneath might be @
the plainest possible kind, and no on
would know the difference.
Mrs. Oelrichs, the sister of the bride