The Washington times., 1901-10-06
jew WELRY FOR MEMS USE
The Wearing of Costly Ornaments
a Growing Fad in Erg and.
Expensive Ornaments WOrn Under
the Outer ClOthinE-An increasing
Custom, London jewelers. Suy-The
Articles Made on the Continent.

| Articles Made on the Continent.
| LONDON, oct. 5-When 1t was first re-
ported that jewelry stolen from the young
| Marquis of Anglesy by one of his three
valets was worth f20,OO1. many people
thought that this must have been an ex-
! aggeration. When, however, the mar
| quis testified in the police court it was
| proved that this was, if anything, an un-
| dercstimate He declared that the value
| Of the jewelry was between $4,000 and
/ ei0c00, while a number of scattered trifles
under the bed were worth a few thousand
| pounds more.
| Like many others, Magistrate PlOwden
| wondered why a young man travelling
alone should carry such an enormous
| amount of costly jewelry, and he asked
! most natural question. whether it was
all for masculine wear, to which the mar
| quis gave an affirmative answer. This
drew attention to the question as to the
| extent Of the fashion of wearing jewelry
which prevails among Englishmen.
| 1t has been supposed that anything con-
| spicuous in wearing apparel or jewelry
| was, above everything, to be avoided by
| a well dressed gentleman, but a change
seems to have come about. at all e1ents
| in at least one of the circles of male
| society in England.
1t has long been known that King Ed
ward occasionally wears a bangle his
wrist The late Duke of Saxe-Coburg
Gotha wore a heavy gold curb bracelet
for years before his death. and even that
hard criminal lawyer. Henry
Hawkins, now Lord Brampton, used to
wear bracelets while sitting on the bench.
The occasional bracelet wearer however.
has been regarded as a harmless excep-
tion to healthy rule.
Now. however, if the West End jewel
ers are to be credited, the custom of
wearing iewelry of all kinds is rapidly
gaining ground in England. and espe-
cially among what is generally termed as
the upper classes. The Daily News"
sent a reporter to enquire of a number of
the best known jewellers of the West End
in regard to this matter, with the follow
ing results:
He found the allegation perfectly well
founded, and in the course Of his in
vestigations he discovered that not only
were these men prone to wear jewelry
nowadays such pins. tie clips, fasten-
ers. shirt studs, and solitaires, not to
mention for the moment more specifically
finger rings. but in many cases they were
addic ted to the habit of wearing curious
and costly articles of jewelry such as
snakes, and so forth, around their arms.
waists, and legs, beneath their ordinary
clothing. The manager of the largest and
best known jewelry concern in London,
in discussing this subject, said his tirm
never manufactured these articles. They
kr--. all about them, however. as they
had been offered them for sale. They
were made usually in Paris, Vienna, St
Petersburg. and Moscow. The Russian
output was extremely beautiful and
showed superb workmanship.
Apart from this exotic. or, as the
News prefers TO call it, 'erotic jew
elry, Er giish jewelers. have generally con-
firmed the story that there is a rapidly
increasing custom among men to wear
jewelry OF more than the ordinary sort.
One jeweler is quoted saying:
Quite a large number of men now
wear a curb bracelet as token OF be-
Another one says: Men nowadays pay
far more for scarfDins than was ever
known before. Many wear two pairs OF
links for their shirt cuffs"
Another jeweler says: Il have recently
anaIyzed my business accounts and find
that for every half dozen finger rings l
sold two years ago / have now sold ten
or eleven.
But" he added. what is spent by the
male who adorns himself in weird jewelry
which is not seen by anyone else ] re
gard as the most extraordinary exhibition
OF the fashion which once possessed the
so-called smart men of wearing costly
jeweled buttons on their evening waist
coats -