The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1903-09-05
LOST WORKS OF ART
WORTH FORTUNES
Is. TO THE FINDERS. A..
Many Precious Objects for Which
Governments and Private Collectors
. Would Pay Vast Amounts-Sore
Probably Lost Forever.

The greatest treasure in sculpture
the world has ever, known is imper'
feet, and the piece missing-a right
arm-would bring the. finder in a
kings ransom, SO may be termed
treasure in itself. IT, This arm, Of
course, belongs to the Venus de Milo
now in the Louvre, Paris, and twenty
eight years ago it turned up in Eng
land, and was proved by experts to
be the genuine arm of the Venus. The
owner, however, refused to part with
it, and concealed it somewhere lest it
should be stolen by thieves. When he
died he left no record as to where
the arm was hidden, and from that
day to this its resting-place has re-
manned mystery.
Somewhere there is an old bronze
drinking-cup which would easily re-
alize 100000 if put on the market.
1t is the famous bronze bowl found
in Egypt century and a half ago,
on which was engraved the ancient
history of the Pharaohs. It was
stolen from an Egyptian temple in
1889 and taken to Europe. From that
time it miraculously disappeared, and
forty years later the French govern
ment offered $4,000 for it's discovery,
but the famous cup had vanished, in
all probability for ever.
Great pictures have an unhappy
knack Of disappearing, and lucky
would be the individual who came
across Sir. Joshua Reynolds "Coun-
tess of Derby" for it. would realize
$150,000. This was acknowledged to
be Reynolds greatest portrait, but;not
long after it was painted it disap-
peared from the Earl of Derby's col.
lection and has never since been
heard Of There are also two Van
dykes and a Rembrandt missing for
which the British National Gallery
would willingly pay 100000, and no
doubt the Earl of Crewe would give
a big reward to any one who returned
the Cupid cut by some vandal from
the picture of former Countess of
Crewe and her son, who was painted
as the little sprite.
Half century ago the Italian gov
eminent offered $4,000 to any one
who would rediscover the Florentine
chalice. This is a goblet of green
Venetian glass, made in the sixteenth
century for the Pope and engraved
with picture of the Resurrection
It's manufacture is said to have oc-
cupied two years, and the secret Of
the glass, which was thinner than
paper, is lost. The cup was stolen
from the Vatican; but no one came
forward to claim the offered reward
and the probabilities are that the cup,
has been smashed.
A similar treasure, which vanished
in an equally strange manner was:
the Marsella vase of Dresden china
It is the only piece of china missing
from the famous Marsella collection,
the value of which is set down at
$4,000, and it bears upon it the cross
arrows and lions head.
Probably in lumber room in some
part of Britain there is an old sword
which, il the owner only knew it, is
worth about $4,000. 1t was the
state sword presented by the nation
to Edward ILL.,, and at one time, the
hilt was studded with large rubies,
but these disappeared long before the
weapon followed them into obscurity
some years ago. Any one of the
British national museums would pur-
chase the sword for the sum mention
ed, while it is not unlikely that in
public auction room the bidding
would rise even higher.