Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-03-10
Unique Aquonnorine Is Promised
Continued From Page d.

Continued From Page d.
frequently ("but I'm very
CAREFUL don't dare drop
it'D and considers it, If any
thing, "a good luck stone"
The Smithsonian also will
receive, in June, an I'M
mounted l,000-carat aqua
marine from Miss Evyan, the
perfumer. Although aqua
marine is semiprecious by
jewelers. definition, the quail
ity and size of this stone puts
1t into the unique" category
and 1t has a fittingly glamor-
Gus background.
Repeatedly. it was owned
in the l600s by the great
mogul, Shah Jahan, builder
OF the Tai Mahal; was part
OF the immense booty cap
tured when the Nadir Shah
sacked Delhi in 1889, and
was given in partial payment
Tor asylum when the Raja
OF Afghanistan sought refuge
in Lahore in 1918.
Miss Evyan's ancestors were
English diplomats in India,
and one of them received it
about 100 years ago in re-
turn for governmental favors.
The huge aquamarine has
been in her family ever since.
Rare Gems as Minerals
The Smithsonian has many
other fine unmounted stones
in its gems and minerals coll
lection - including a pink
diamond, some star SAP
phires, the worlds largest
Alexandrine (66 carats) and
so on. DR.. George Switzer,
the curator, still quietly longs
for some rubies, emeralds
and additional sapphires of
crown-jewel quality to film
our biggest gap" he said.
OF course, he's not envision-
ing them on future First
Ladies. He thinks of the col
lection strictly in terms Of
minerology and would pre-
fer it, he hints, If all the
great gems were unfettered
by jewelers. mountiugs.
DR.. Switzer puts no stock in
all those horror tales con-
nected with the Hope dia-
mond, by reputation the
worst-luck stone of them all.
He does admit with amuse-
ment, however, that he had q
mighty rocky trip when he
took the jewel to Paris for
exhibition last year.
He carried the big blue
diamond (441a carats) in his
pants pocket, secured there
with giant safety pins. An
escort saw him to the plane
here, which was to take him
directly to Paris. But the
crafts landing gear went
bad and he had to transfer
at Philadelphia to a plane
that stopped at New York,
where he waited several
hours for a plane that
detoured to Germany, where
he waited some more for a
flight that finally got him
to Paris-12 hours late.
AS If that wasn't enough
to shake his reason, DR..
Switzer's car got into an ac-
cident on the way to the
Louvre.
SuperstitiOn-With HumOr
The curator also tells the
story, again grinning slightly,
of a plane ride involving the
Winstons, when they owned
the diamond. The jeweler
and his wife made it a prac-
tice, when travelling by air,
not to take the same plane
so that their children would
not be orphaned in case Of
a crash.
Once, when they were watt
ing in the Paris airport for
their two flights home, a man
scheduled to take the first
learned that Mrs. Winston
would be aboard. He rushed
up to the ticket counter to
change his reservation, ex-
planning to the clerk he'd
NEVER ride in the same
plane with an owner OF that
Inflated diamond.
The man was comfortably
settled on the later plane,
already up in the air, when
he struck up a conversation
with his next-seat neighbor:
1t was Mr.. Winston.
Superstition was strong
enough to frighten a good
many Americans when the