Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12
HozO Love of Beauty and Grazing for the
artistic Prompted Theft Of Famed I0o,y
Diptwh From Zagreb Cathedralby ''7o7Oer
Count" W'ho Gould Not Resist Lure of
Priceless Possessions.

famous diptych. It was very poor imitation.
but at least it was the same SIZE and when the
propitious moment came to substitute it for the
real treasure the act was accomplished with
out hitch.
The crude substitute might have masque-
raded for the original diptych for goodness
knows how long-Sometimes cathedral treasures
have a way Of thriving and growing valuable
in dust and obScurity-had not a dealer who
had once made an offer of $40 900 for the
article and been refused learned that it had
been sold to an American for $4,000.
On learning this bit of news the dealer who
had made the offer of $4,000 resolved to make
inquiries. He appeared at Zagreb and asked
the cathedral chapter how it was that they had
refused to sell the treasure to him instead of
merely telling him that it already Sold
The cathedral authorities replied, to his great
amazement. that the diptych remained in the
cathedral treasury and that anything in Cleye-
land purporting to be it must of necessity be
merely a copy. However when further inveSti-
cation was made, it was revealed that the
cathedral treasury and not the Cleveland
Museum had the copy.
This discovery led to a thorough examina-
ton Of the contents of the treasury, which re-
vealed that it had been well plundered The
medieval miters were intact, but the valuable
bishops croziers had been tempered with.
Huge emeralds, diamonds and amethysts had
been replaced with worthless glass. Bishops
rings had been stolen, and many precious
and pieces of glass substituted.
Police inquiries revealed that no stranger
other than the count-who had disappeared
very suddenly-had had access to the cathe-
dral collection.
A MUSEUM theft awakens Europe very
quickly. but only after a most painstak-
ing search was the count traced and brought
to Paris from whence he is soon to be sent to
the Jugoslavian authorities. Meanwhile he Is
trying to explain to those with whom he comes
in contact that it was not the money but the
beauty Of the treasure itself that bewitched
him. This may also explain the lucky finds
of the count when he kept an art shop in Paris
prior to his cathedral activities-how the sword
of the Croatian King, made in 1857, and an I'M
known Titan came into his possession. Yet
each Of these treasures that the counts art
loving fingers yearned 10 careSs-and did-waS
exchanged for prosac coin of the realm.
The motives behind museum thefts-at least
those given-would furnish one of the most
absorbing chapters in criminal history Some
times it Is patriotism sometimes a vagary Of
the Imagination, sometimes it is a woman.
It was not q hesh-and-blood woman but O
pictured one, that lured young Perugia to tear
Da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa" from the walls
of the Louvre in 1911. Concerning this paint
ing, Michelangelo once said: "She Is a strange
creature whose looks promise unknown joys
and whose expression Is divinely ironic-MoS a
Lisa is flirting with the world!" According to
Perugia, she was flirting with him that MORN
ing when he was at work, in the employ of q
picture cleaning concern, in the Louvre gal
leries. Her smile lured him, her eyes followed
him from room to ROOM The lady in the gold