The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1913-07-25
In Treasures Is The United
States Museum
IA List Of The Most Valuable
| Exhibits

tHllS else III tne WcTlu' IL uhSh' pN
called curio hall, says the Washing
ton Herald. In Indian antiquities and
ancient American relics IL surpasses
any other museum, and it is rich in
the line of jewels and precious bric-a-
brac.
Stored away in the National Muse.
um are bushels of gold, quarts of pre-
cious stones, handfuls of beautiful
pearls, and china and cut glass worth
their weight in gold. 1t takes four
large cases to contain the uncut gems
alone, and three cases are filled with
! the cut stones.
The United States is the only ma
ton which does not allow its officers
to accept presents from foregn ma
tions or rulers, and that accounts for
many Of the exhibits in the museum.
The most precious, perhaps, is the
collection of jewels which the Sultan
of Muscat, in Arabia, gave to Presi.
dent Van Buren, comprising two large
pearls as big as pigeons eggs, 100
small pearls and 1870 diamonds.
There is a cats.eye ring from Siam,
another from Ceylon, another from
Bavaria, and native Indian neck
lace made of cat's.eye beads; one OF
the most beautiful cat's.eye beads;
one OF the most beautiful cat's-eye
came from Rhode Island, and this EN-.
phasizes a point that few people know
that so many precious stones are In.
digenous to America. In the cases
are turquoises, beryls, amethysts, gar
nets, pearls and emeralds-all found
on American soil.
There are tOpazes from Siberia,
sapphires from North Carolina, and
earnets from Bohemia, Ceylon, South
Africa, and New Mexico. New Mexi.
CO furnishes the finest garnets In the
world in the point Of color, and 1t
seems to be the precious.stone region
of the United States.
A curious stone exhibited has just
been received from Siberia. 1t Is a
bowl OF fruit made OF precious stones,
carved out so naturally that one
would mistake them for the original.
There are red raspberries and luscious
black berries, strawberries, and cur
rants. resting on leaves Of green SER
pentine, which are extremely natural.
The most valuable of the jewels.
however, are those which are set In
the swords, guns, and canes present
ed to our great men, to say nothing
of the workmanship. These jewels
are so valuable that a guard is de-
tailed to watch them day and night.
and each case has burglar alarm
connected with IT,
The Grant collection alone Is worth
a princely fortune. II comprises col
lection Of gold and silver coins from
Japan, OF which the only other set Is
| in the Japanese treasury; elephant
tusks from Siam, numbers OF dia-
mond.hilted swords and medals az big
around as a teacup, some containing
5000 worth Of gold.
Numerous cities gave General Grant
boxes containing the paper in which
the freedom of the city" was pre-
sented to him. Ayr, Scotland, gave
large box of solid gold. Glasgow
a still larger one. and the London
box Is a marvel In size and artistic
workmanship. These are only a few
of the hundreds of gifts he received,
and which are now In the museum.
There are dozens Of swords here, all
extremely valuable and all relics OF
soldiers, sailors. ard statesmen. The
star which the Sultan Of Turkey gave
to Mrs. 3. 8. Cox Is also here. 1t IL
as large around as a silver dollar and
sparkles with hundreds OF diamonds.
The wife of Minister Straus was pre-.
scented with q similar star OF the or
der OF Shefekat, and II viii go into
the museum some day.
Then there are q number OF fine
dresses In the National Museum. and
q cloak that is valued at $i,00O,OOO.
and casts into the shade all the other
cloaks In the world.
II comes from the Sandwich islands
and 1t Is made up OF red and yellow
feathers SO fastened together that
they overlap each other and form a
smooth surface.
These feathers shine like the finest
Of floss silk and the red feathers are
far prettier than the yellow ones. 1t
is the yellow feathers. however, that
are expensive. They are about an inch
long and are worth. in the country In
which they are found. so cents apiece.
They were In times past received for
taxes by the Hawaiian kings.
They are taken from a little bird
known 40 the uho. which is very rare
and shy, and difhcult to capture.
Each bird has two of these yellow