The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-01-25

Of those belonging to his predecessor
 he selected one made of ivory filigre work and exquisite carving whicl
 was brought from India in 1473. Tn
 czarina selected gorgeous throne o
 ebony heavily incrusted with jewel | which was captured from Persia in 1906 i 1t bears S76 diamonds and 1,229 rubies ] besides many other stones of Jesse
 value.
 In another room are the coronation | ropes that have been worn by the sev
 eral czars, of materials that are almos
 priceless. A large hall is filled witt
 the carriages in which they have rid
 den from part of the Kremlin to an
 other on their coronation days, all GOV | cred with gold leaf and exquisite cary. i Ing. The panels of several are painted with appropriate pictures by famous artlsts of their time. Others have tht Russian coat-of-arms or the monogram
 or the sovereign for whom they were
 made set with diamonds, rubies, sap pnlres, pearls, turquoise and other pre- | clous stones. One, which belonged tc Catherine the Great, has the hubs ot the wheels entirely covered with Per
 sian turquoise, Millions of dollars are
 thus lying idle in the jewels upon
 the carriages and ornaments. A saddle
 presented by the Sultan of Turkey to
 katherine the Great is said to carry
 S65O,OOO worth of precious stones.
 Several large rooms are filled with
 cases containing gold and silver plate
 presented to the several sovereigns of
 Russia during the last five or six cen
 turies. They represent the highest art
 and skill of gold and silver smiths of
 all nations, and their intricate value, were they melted down, would be enor-
 nous. Here also are the suits of armor,
 worn by Russian soVereigns in ancient days, many of them being heavily
 mounted with gold, silver and precious stones.
 The largest emerald ever known is in the crown of Kazan, surrounded by 190 other precious stones of great value.
 The largest ruby ever found is in the crown of the Empress Anne, which was originally made for Catherine, the peas- ant wife of Peter the Great, but for some other reason was not used at her coronation. This ruby was purchased at Pekin in 1876 by the Russian ambas- sador, It originally came from Burmah and is priceless. No estimate of it's value can be made. It is worth what ever anyone would be willing or able to pay for it, but naturally, being the pr D. erty of the government, it will probably never come into the market. It stands upon the crest of d golden mitre em- bosed with 2,5S6 diamonds.
 In the collection of swords is one pre- sented by the boyars, or nobles, to Ivan diamonds upon the handle. The crown of Vladimir, which contains a piece of the true cross, is studded with fifty eight large diamonds, eighty three ru- bies, twenty-three sapphires, fifty em- eralds and thirty-seven pearls used as borders of frames around beautiful pie lures in enamel representing five of the principal acts in the life of David.
 There is nothing to compare with it at any other capital, although the crown of Portugal, I believe, contains precious stones of greater value than that of any other They are estimated at eight millions, and the ornaments formerly worn by the predecessors of the present Shah of Persia, which be- long to the Persian government were ali one time valued at fifty millions. Tho latters crown formerly contained, n bpp tt,n lao I ruby of Akbar the Great, the Grand Mogul of Delhi, which was brought to Teheran by the Shah Nadair, who in- vaded India during the early part of the thirteenth century. This ruby, which is perhaps second in value only to that n the crown of the Czarlna Anne (and some esteem it of greater value) has leen missing from the Persian crownl 'or several years Dealers in precious stones all over the world have been warned not to purchase it, but to im- nediately telegraph a banking firm in | Paris in case it should be offered them Or sale. The manner in which the shah las behaved about the matter has given 'ise to a great deal of gossip, and a suspicion that he knows more about its disappearance than he cares to say. It would be impossible for anyone to get i'd of such a stone. In the first place 10 one would buy 1t without thorough investigation, which, of course, would 'e disastrous to the thief and In thel econd place, the purchaser would be ompelled to defend himself against a uit In court or diplomatic proceedings rom the Persian government Hel would be in the same predlcamnet asl he man in Mark Twaln's story who had
 ohe-million dollar bank bill given him nd nearly starved to death because he ould not ger it changed. The only wavl hat the thief can get rid of the Persian uby is to break it into @ dozen pieces nd then he would be apt to excite rave suspicious.
 There have been a number of scandals late years concerning some of theI ewels in the treasury. The guides 'ho show people around the place talk 'ith amazing freedom about the hammer in which they have been pill, cred by grand dukes, governors gen. ral, police officials and other personsI authority. Three. of four years ago n attendant showed me empty settings l the handle of the sword of Ivan the 'errible, from which he declared that 1e Grand Duke Sergius (assassinated tst spring. had removed several val able stones in order to complete a ecklace or some other ornament for is wife. He also asserted that hnn-