Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-05-09


boyish pranks. Her engagement
ring was a beautiful serpent Of emer-
aids, and she always wore it, as we'll
as the historic ruby and diamond
ring that was the outward and visible
sign of her Queendom, being put on
her finger ut the coronation, and caus-
ing her great deal of pain, because
a mistake had been made in the meas
urement and it was too small That
was speedily remedied, and she was
never without it. She also wore
several memorial rings.
TWO Priced Rings.
Two rings that the queen prizeu
very highly were presented to her by
the late Mr.. Fortnum, of Hill house
Stanmore, who was such an enthusi-
astic collector, and left no less than
500 valuable and historic rings to the
Ashmolcan museum. At the jubilee OF
1897 he sent her the diamond signet
of Queen Henrietta Maria, and few
years ago she accepted from him
gold sapphire signet ring that had be-
longed to Mary Stuart, the wife OF
William III. Her late majesty also
possessed the signet ring OF Charles
l.. which is not at all too large for a
mans little finger, though it has the
royal arms infinitely engraved on a
steel shield and the lion and unicorn
exuuisitely modelled in the same
metal, reclining on the shoulders of a
massive gold ring Another of her
treasures was the signet ring made for
Charles II. when prince of Wales,
which had the ostrich plumes between
the letters c. P, clearly and deeply cut
on a table diamond, y by q inches in
size, formed into heartshaped, seven
sided shield. The stone is lustrous,
but slightly tiEged with yellow. The
back of the ring is enameled with a
bow and culver en- satire. These are
all relics of the queens Stuart ances'
tors, an1 she had also some fine jewel
ry that belonged to Queen Anne.
A vel. curious and immensely val
liable rig is an extremely fine ruby
half an inch in diameter and Of spIen-
did quality 1t is engraved with a
profile head of Louis MI. of France,
and insia> it is engraved Logs Nllo
1915" so It was probably a memorial
ring and fine specimen of Quattra
Cento work. The noted Kohinor is a
personal jewel, and the queen wore it.,
set as a brooch, on special occasions.
Its history can be traced back for T.
GOO years. and in India it had the rcpu-
tatiOn Of bringing i'll luck and down
right disaster. When it became the
queens property it was uncut, but
was committed to Messrs. Coster, Of
Amsterdam, to be cut and polished. In
doing this many portions were cut
away. but it was made marvelously
brilliant. 1t was believed that her
majesty intended to add the noun
tain of light' to the crown jewels. A
very antique brooch in the collection
is an "cyo.onyx," double eyed and
brightly colored and presenting the
most striking resemblance to the eye
of some animal. 1t is supposed to
have been worn as a prophylactic.
Collection of Canoes.
The royal collection of canoes is
almost priceless, and gains fresh in
terest from the fact that canoes are
again fashionable, after being in re-
tirement for at least 40 years. A
very fine one of Henry VIII. is cX-
ecuted in fiat relief on a beautiful sar-
donyx, the head standing out in pearly
white on the rich brown background.
Another cameo shows his full face,
with that of the baby prince, his only
son, who afterward became Edward
| vi. The little face has a cap round it,
and the stone is a very large oval mco-
10, the back of which is followed out
in intagliO so as to correspond with
the relief on the surface. This curl
GUS expCdient is characteristic OF the
cameo cutting of the period. A profile
head of Francis l., on a yellow and
white onyx, forms the center of SUI
perb enameled pendant for a neck
| chain, and is surrounded with brelo'
uues set with canoes in cOlored stones
pendant from it by short gold chains.
The best of them is a yelled head of
Ceres on large and fne-colored tur-
quoise. Cameo portraits of Lady
Jane Grey Mary queen of Scots and
shows a bust of Queen Elizabeth,
standing out in pure white. 1t shows
duchess Of Parma are very curious.
A very large and perfect sardonyx
, the details of her hair and headdress,
and the iewerly she wore, and the face
is lifelke A pendant to it shows a
portrait of Philip II. of Spain, and was
possibly sent as love token by that
grim sutton 1t is supposed to be
| the work Of his court engraver, Jaco-
20 da Trezzo. A very charmlngly del
| icate cameo portrait is that Of Clemen.
tina Sobieski, the Polish wife Of the
old pretender. This is a very inter
esting relic. There are many other
canoes, but they are almost plaques
and only those described can by any
possibility ever have bee, worn as
! uareoual ornaments