The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-25
GEMS PAWNED BY ROYALTY.
MANY OF EUROPE'S MONARCHs
WE'RE EXTREMELY PRODIGAL.

Queens Crown Pledged by Her Hus-
band for Spending Money-GoId
Held for Ransom Priceless
Treasures of France Concealed in
Parisian Ditch.
From the London Anglo American.
OF all inanimate objects which have
stirred to he depths the various emotions
of mankind gems and jewels take an easy
first place; probably also their delusive
sparkle has proved a greater incentive to
crime than anything else has ever done,
wtile in the love affairs of the world they
have always played a very conspicuous
part That this role has not always been
an honorable one is, unfortunately, too
vel proved when one remembers the
countless tragedies and stories which sur
round almost every famous jewel in exist
ence. His DRY tells US how kings and
queens-particularly queens-have fought
| and schemed to obtain possession of them
indeed, from the world-renowned pearls
Of Cleopatra down to the famous Cum
berland" jewels of Queen Victoria a
queens gems have always been among her
most
Many of poor Mary Queen of Scots trou-
bles arose from the fact of her owning
| the most roaenihcent nar,re Of ,oearls in
| the world and the extraordinary conduct
of her royal kinswomen, Catherine Medic
| Of France and Queen Elizabeth of Eng
| land, in their frantic at'emp to obtain
| these gems the while their Inflated cousin
| lay in prison affords entertaining il
scarcely edifving reading Vet another
famous oueen whose Jewels oroved her
| undoinp or at laast nreiudiced her ,,ao-
ne against her was the beautiful Marie
| Ar+oipat+a ~ Era,ca 1ybo ca,5oi,,I,- ia
! dearly enough for the diamond collar eba
vas 5cetined ne1,-r To 1,,aar
were
| Although 1t must be confessed that the
fair sex seem to have fallen more under
the fascination of precious stones than
80 ~ 80 g. 80 - 'il,.I -s
into possession of their Jewels they gem
orally kept them, while it was left for the
illustrious members of the male sex to
| show how to raise money on the glittering
! baubleS
| With the exceptions of Dor devoted
Henrietta Maria, who went to Holland
| and pawned her private Jewels to obtain
money to enable her much-beloved hns-
| band to carry on his war and Anne Bo-
IL a
ways short of money poor woman. and
who pawned all her jewels in order to
| pay her debts before her marriage, the
| instances of women disDosing of their
trinkets are exceptionally rare. but from
time immemorial the King has turned to
his regalia and raised money on it, 1t
| has indeed, become an unwritten maxim
that If you must pawn anything Jewels
are the ideal things with which to oper-
ate. This probably comes from the fact
that they have always possessed the ad-
vantage Of comprising great value in
small space. besides which the standard
| of their value does not fuctuate much.
| Therefore il is not surprising to find that
| history teens with examples of roval
| pawned Jewels and almost every country
| has once or oftener been rescued from
| great Embarrassment by the money ad-
vanced on its crown Jewels.
N"'ei r"seS'
One Of the earliest au hentic cases comes
from Spain. The Spaniards trace the de-
scent Of their royal house back 20 Cid
| Campeador. who fiourished in the eleventh
| century This gentleman on one occasion
raised a loan in a manner which has in
these degenerate days, unfortunately-for
the borrower!-died out Wishing to go
TO war and having no funds, he borrowed
| the necessary moneys from certain Jews
| on the security of his treasure Golfers,
| which were locked. The money lenders
we're forbidden on pain of death to have
| these Golfers opened, and a the time OF
| he transaction no one but the King him
elf knew that they were empty. 1t says
| much, however for the honor of the said
King that the cases. empty or full were
redeemed at their fun value Nearer
home we have an amusing story of how
Henry III pawned a gold imoge OF the
| Virgin Mary in order to pay the officers
of the chapel royal at Windsor and then.
few hours aftorward, fearing lest his
scri eg Gus deed shou bring upon him
m luck, he redeemed it with some land
from his own private parks Another Gu