The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-25
Some Indianapolis Women own VAL
uabIe Collections of OId-Fash-
toned Gems.
ARE OMENS OF ILL FORTUNE
SUPERSTITIONS SURROUND MANY
PRECIOUS STONES.
EmeraIds Are Regarded as Heralds
of Misfortune by Many-An In
diana Diamond.

1t is more fashionable to-day to wear
the rings. pins. lcckets and chains that
were once worn by your great-grandparents
than to decorate yourself with the most
exquisite jewels of the present make. and
it is interesting to observe i'm Indianapo-
lis the great amount of curious ornaments
that have been resurrected from obscure
hiding places during the last few months,
and which are now being worn by their
owners, who consider them priceless. Ev-
erywhere one may see, worn on the out
side of street dresses, the heavy gold chains
of the olden times. Some OF them have
links an inch long and suspended to many
of them are large gold crosses. often four
or five inches in length, while hanging
from others are big lockets set in the stilted
style of our grandmothers days, with rows
of pearls or the conventional designs made
with rubies, diamonds emeralds.
A remarkable number Of old canoes of
great beauty. set i'm rings brooches.
have been brought to light by the pre-
vailing fad for old-fashioned jewelry and
even the odd-looking Carnelian rings of a
century ago are to be seen once more among
Indianapolis people. Mrs. Horace Fletcher
is one of the Indianapolis women who owns
some valuable specimens of old-fashioned
jewels her collection including several Car
nelian rings that are beautifully colored
and which have curious patterns cut in
them such as are never seen in rings of
the present day. Carnelian is variety of
chalcedony of a clear, deep red, or a flesh
colored red, and sometimes a reddish white
hue. 1t is a moderately hard stone and
takes fine polish. The entire ring band
is cut from one piece of the stone and the
top is often carved into a design in place
of setting. Mrs. Fletcher also has in
her collection two or three ancient pressed
gold brooches. One is about three inches
long, representing a cluster of pomegranite
leaves with the fruit and blossom, and an
other is pin, made over a hundred years
ago and set with the green Scotch peb-
bles," favorite stones in the fashions of that
period.
ORNAMENTS OF LONG AGO.
This rage for ornaments of long ago has
brought out the long gold pencils that used
to be so popular in the time Of our fore
fathers Zone of the handsomest of these is
now worn on a long gold chain by Mrs. w.
Z. English), and the huge earrings, with
their inch of gold fringe are fast being
made into pins and brooches; for no woman
of the present time will copy her grand
mothers fashions to such an extent as to
wear any of these barbaric things in her
ears. One of the most magnificent sets
breastpin and earrings-to be found in In
dianapolis is the property of Mrs z. NJ.
Churchman. This set is an exact counter
part of one worn by Dollie Madison during
her stay in the White House. The stones
are carbuncles of unusual size and color
encircled by large pearls. There really
seems to be something mysterious about
| the rich, deep red luster of these stones
and it is little wonder that the Hindus are
| very superstitious regarding them The
| natives of India hold that when a carbuncle
| develops black spots 1t is an infallible sign
| of impending misfortune and the Hindu
| that notes one of these spots in the car
| buncle which he has carried as a charm
| will lose no time in presenting il to some
! one for whom he cherishes a secret aver
| son
| There are so many superstitions, by the
way, in connection with precious stones
| that the owner of collection would be In
| a continuous state of anxiety if he were
| to give serious attention to all that tradi-
tion has to say about the magic properties of
| the costly gems. This superstition is easily
| accounted for, as the Orient, which is the
| hot-bed of all superstition, was the original
| home of precious stones and Jewels
great many of these signs" are in vogue
! to-day, and the return of the ornaments of
our grandparents days has, naturally
enough, brought to light numerous old SUI
| perstitions that had been almost entirely
| forgotten. You will find that many people
| in Indianapolis never wear what they term
| their birth stones" either in the rings on
their fingers set in other pieces OF jew
| elry while many people entertain diversions
| for certain kinds of gems and cannot be
induced to wear them or even touch Them
There is well-known fear of opals and
| pearls that is shared by many. Mrs j. NJ
Turner, of Pittsburg. formerly an Indian
| apolis woman. possesses exquisite en-
/ erald that has been admired by many coll
| lectors and experts. While not superstitious
about other things, Mrs. Turner will not
wear the beautiful stone, and will no longer
| allow it to be exhibited. The first time
| that she wore it, the setting of ring,
| death occurred in her family She wore
no jewelry during her period of mourning.
but after many months she again placed
| the emerald ring upon her finger and the
| same day received news Of the death of her
| sister i'm Indianapolis.
A FINE EMERALD.
Emeralds are not considered omens of ILL.,
| fortune by all. and there are a few very
beautiful stones of this kind In Indianapo-
lis, although the true emerald is a very
rare gem. Mrs. Owen Mothershead is the
| owner of one of the finest emeralds in the
! country set I'm an old-fashioned ring. and
! Mrs. John Lord is the possessor of one
almost exactly like 1t. There are curious
| and costly rings of other kinds too numer-
| Gus to mention which are the property of
indianapolis people. Rings seem to have
been worn in some shape or other from the
| time of Noah, and there are several very
| ancient gold finger bands among some In
dianapolis private collections. In Rome the
| different orders of citizens were dstin-
guished by rings; in the early days of the
| republic only senators wore rings of gold
subsequently knights wore them, and later
on anybody who chose wore one or more
of them. Slaves wore iron rings. The we'd
ding ring and the ring used by the Pope
and bishops are the only ones that have
any special significance nowadays, The Gus