Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-08-30
KING GEORGES TREASURES.
Palaces Overlooking With Plate and
Pictures.

Pictures.
Both Windsor castle and Bucking-
ham palace are overf1owing with treas.
ures Of every description-plate. pic
lures, jewels, statuary. books and rel-
ice of enormous historic value. When
King Edward came to the throne he
found valuables of all kinds locked
away, undispiayed and uncatalogued.
and-worse than all-absolutely unpro-
tected from fire.
During his all too brief reign King
Edward effected complete revolution.
In the first place he installed electric
lights all through both the chief royal
residences; in the second he put in
very possible appliance and arrange
ment for fire fighting. and after that
extended the royal library. inspected
the gold pantry and had all the vari-
ous treasures of the two palaces prop
erly inventoried and displayed.
The value of the plate alone which
King George inherits is almost inesti-
ma BILE The so-called gold pantry at
Windsor consists of two large fire.
proof storerooms. in which is kept
plate of an estimated value of $780,
900.
The gold plate which is used for state
banquets weighs more than five tons.
1t is not. of course, all solid gold. II
the larger pieces were gold they would
be too heavy to move at all. Some Of
the epergnes take four men to lift.
These are Of silver gilt. 1t takes one
man to carry two dishes of eight
plates. The latter are of pure gold.
There is not much ancient English
plate in the gold pantry. Charles l.
melted down all the plate of his day
and coined it into money. But there
are some exquisite foreign pieces,
among them great silver fiagon taken
from the flagship of the Spanish Ar
manda, and the famous Nautilus" cup
made by that master of the art. Ben
venuto Cellini. There is a shield by the
same great italian. and the wonderful
gold tigers head taken from Tippoo
Sahibs throne after the storming of
Seringapatam in 1893. -.s
This tigers head is,a marvellous work
Of art 1t is life-size and its teeth and
eyes are cut out of pure rock crystal.
Another relic captured at the same
time is the jeweled bird called the
Una" In shape it is like pigean.
with a peacock's tail Its feathers
blaze with precious stones and mag
nificcnt emerald hangs from it's breast.
According to an old Indian legend.
owns this bird will rule India.
There is also shield formed of
snuff boxes and valued at 5000.
and a great quantity of beautiful cups
and salvers. among them a ose-water
xof of -i1uar AaSiDnoh Inv tho
late prince consort and weighing
nearly 5000 ounces. i ~ ss
Detectives who reside at the castle
as ordinary officials guard these vast
treasures Of plate, and also the jew
els. which are locked in another un-
derground safe. These jewels have
of course nothing to do with The
crown jewels, which are kept in the
tower. They are the private property
Of the royal family. Queen Alexar-
dra's personal jewelry Is Of immense
value. and for precautions. sake she
he'd all duplicated in paste. But Wind
sor castle is not the place Of the enter
prising burglar to go ''a-burgling."
There is an old law. still unrepealed.
which enables the reigning sovereign
70 nut to death any person or persons
whose carelessness any OF MS
gems may be lost. What would hap
pen to a burglar one shudders to con-
template. .... a. ,-..,.... s..,a.
The royal family library at Windsor
more than 100000 volumes.
among them many that would fetch
enormous prices if put up at auction.
There is a Metz Psalter for which
collector swould sell his last stick.
Charles 7. Shakespeare, a magnincent
Caxton on vellum and other treasures
too numerous to mention.
Below the library is room con-
one Of the finest collections
Of prints in existence. These alone
would probably fetch 100000 II sold.
I'm the same room are, no fewer than
20, 900 drawings Of the old masters
and a collection Of more than 1,o0o
The late Queen Victoria
collected these miniatures. ..-'--.
Besides all these ancient treasures
King George will presumably innert
the great collection Of valuable 90
jects got together by his fatner'
These include the coronation pres.
ents. valued at more than $4,000 .OoO aho
many Indian works of art. includine
a wonderful embossed shield OF goid
given by a number Of rajahs.
There 10 10 reigning monarch IN
the world, not even the Gear OF all 'ne
who is master of such az
collection Of beautiful ana
valuable objects as il George v.
Hard luck was the lot of the for'
team on It's trip TO Massa