Show UNCLE SAMS JEWELS z The Fortunes on Exhibition in the National Museum PEARLS AS BIG AS PIGEON EGGS Diamonds by the HundredsA Look at George Washingtons Treasures Hare American Stones Savaj3 Jewels WASHINGTON Oct 29 ISOSpecial correspondence cor-respondence of THE HERALD Undo Sam has some of the finest jewels in the United States Stored away in his national museum mu-seum at Washington are bushels of gold quarts of precious stones dozens of beautiful beauti-ful pearls and china and cut glass which are worth their weight in gold It takes four large cases to contain the uncut gems belonging to our governmental uncle and the largest parlor in the United States would ho Crowded with the cases which nuu contain his articles of carved gold The gems are kept in three plate glass cases laid on blue velvet pads and it dazzles ones eyes to look at them Many of them come from America some are from India and some hqye strange histories connected with them The jewels which lay so long in the treasury department at Washington are among them Professor Clark had these removed to the museum not long ago Among them are the jewels which the Sultan Sul-tan of Muscat in Arabia gave to President Van Buren but which according to the rules of our government ho was not able to keep and had to hand over to the treasury department There was no provision then as to what should be done with them and they lay unseen in the vaults for years Among them are two large pearls as big as pigeons eggs These are unset and are as pretty as when they came from the head of an oyster many generations ago Besides them are a hundred and fifty small pearls each as big around as a marrowfat pea and each having a hole pierced through it They were evidently intended for a necklace neck-lace On another pad there are a hundred and thirty diamonds received at the same time These are not large but they are very pure and white and they look like big dew drops as they shine out upon the blue velvet Near by is a wonuerlul cats eye ring which weighs I should judge at leost two ounces This came from Siam and it is set in the purest of gola of exquisite workmanship Among the other cats eyes shown is a yellow cats eye from CeYlon and a valuable jrrefn cats eye from Bavaria Bava-ria and a native Indian neeklacd made of cats eye bead There are all sorts 01 cats eyes from al parts i lf tins world and one of the most btauutiil cOllieS from Rhode Island 1SAKR MhtliiN SluMIs 5 The Uuitcu 6 a i a l4 i fat becoming aland of preciouv tAi a JiiiiuuJb nave been found in Guoixu 1ojl art uinv being picked up in WjscousiL ned Uucie Sam is making urrau eiiKuts lOt < m invoice of some of them fur iiia collection tncre are some beautiful tunjuoists ii tlie oases which were brought by ALorloAell 1 froii New Mexico and these arc uuit a line as the blue turquoises wtncli to government has from Persiu Ot les expensive jtoues the beryls are very beautiful and these is apiece a-piece ot aqua marine from Portland Maine which is as big ns your fist and which shines like a diamond There is an amethyst ame-thyst which is wonderfully beautiful It was found in North Carolina and is supposed sup-posed to have been used by the men of prehistoric pre-historic times It was originally in the ehape of a turtle but Professor Clarke tells me that it was spoiled in the cutting There are also Oriental amethysts and the amethysts from Brazil show all the changes ot that stone from light pink to a dark purple pur-ple The models of all the great diamonds of the world are here and there are emeralds emer-alds from New Mexico and from South America Four long bottle green Brazilian Brazil-ian emeralds of two carats each are very line and another which Professor Dana bought in Peru is over an inch long There are topazes from Siberia sapphires from North Carolina and garnets from Bohemia Ceylon South Africa and New Mexico New Mexico furnishes the linest garnets in the world in point of color and it seems to be the precious stone region of the United States A curious stone exhibit has just been received from Siberia It 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 cherries strawberries and currants resting on leaves of green serpentine ser-pentine which are more natural in their appearance ap-pearance than the famed cow of Sculptor Myron which was so lifelike that it imposed upon a living calf CXCLE SAMS GOLD MINE In another quarter of the museum Uncle Sam keeps his gold in the rough Under glass cases there are great lumps of quartz with the cold shining out in more or less delicate veins The mines of the far west are well illustrated and in some of the specimen spec-imen nuggets of gold are seen In a great safe of steel behind glass doors there arc dozens of little boxes containing gold dust and other boxes on which there are nuggets of pure gold of all sizes from the head of a pin to the size of your fist Some of this gold came from placer mines other plates contain the products of noted leads and on shelf over all are two round pieces of gold as thick as your wrist and about two inches long These are quite valuable and they are made of solid gold They came from the vaults of the treasury and no one knows how they ever got there There are thou sanas of dollars worth of pure gold in this safe and I was shown quarts of specimens in glass cases of less than the size of your fist which had twentyfive dollars worth of gold imbedded in them rORTCXES IN RELICS The most valuable of the jewels of Uncle Sam however are those which are found in the relics of our great men near the entrance en-trance to the museum These are worth tens of thousands of dollars in the intrinsic value of the gold and jewels of which they are made up to say nothing of their costly workmanship There are swords by the dozens set with diamonds guns inlaid with precious stones and canes which have heads of gold in which embedded jewei which would shine at any White House reception re-ception These jewels are so valuable that a guard is detailed to watch them night and day Each case has a burglar alarm connected con-nected with it so that the least meddling with would set an electric bell to ringin and would call the museum army together from every direction Tho Grant coilec tion alone is worth a fortune It is made up of hundreds of gold articles exquisitely carved and brought together from all parts of the world of rare stones of china more valuable than though it were of solid gold and of other articles which would if melted down fully pay tho Presidents salary for a year and more In one case there is a complete com-plete collection of gold and silver coins of Japan which has a wonderful numismatic vaiue as it me omy complete set in existence exis-tence except one in the Japanese treasury Some of the gold coins are a quarter of an inch thick and as big around as the top of a dinner pail Seven of them cost five thousand thou-sand dollars and there are perhaps a hundred hun-dred coins in the collection In another case there are half a dozen large elephant tusks which the King of Siam gave to Grant and there are six pieces of costly jade stone given him by one of the princes of China All of the swords presented to him are here and many of these have diamonds dia-monds set in their handles The sword given to Grant Dy the Sanitary fair at New York has a solid gold head representing the Goddess of Liberty which has two rubies two diamonds and two saphires set in it The sword of Chattanooga has fourteen diamonds embedded in it and many of the gifts which he received from foreign monarchs mon-archs are of gold set with diamonds Ono x of the medals which are in the collection containing six hundred dollars worth of gold is as big around as the bottom of a tin cup The goB articles in this collection would fill a peck measure and every city seems to have given Grant a gold box containing con-taining the paper in which tho freedom of a II > t t1q J = r the town was presented to him The box which he received at Ayr Scotland is as big as aclgar box and is of solid gold The city of Glasgow gave him a still bigger one beautifully chased and the gold box which he received from the city of London is 11 vonder of artistic workmanship bearing engraving of the capital on one side and of the London guild hall on the other Enameled En-ameled on its golden surface are the Union Jack and the red white and blue and the goddess of liberty shakes hands with the British lion Then there is a wonderfully beautiful > cigar case of pure gold from the King of Siam a model of the table on which Lees surrender was signed of solil gold and a solid gold invitation card as big as a postal card and about four times as thick which was sent to Grant in a solid silver envelope inviting him to a masked ball at San Francisco There are a number of silver sil-ver menus a goldhandled knife which the miners of Idaho gave him goldheaded canes set with diamonds and medals and other articles of gold which beggar description descrip-tion SOME COSTLY SWORDS In a case near Grants are the two swords with their scabbards of solid gold which were given to General Shields by South Carolina and which Congress has just ought for ten thousand dollars These have diamonds in their handles and they are very beautiful There is a Damascus sword with a handle of gold which was given to Commodore now Admiral Shuf Idt and other swords given to Perry and Elliott an or solid gold There is a Mexi can saddle mounted with gold which the noted General Harney received from a Mexican officer after the battle of Cerro Gordo and there is one case devoted to relies rel-ies of Hancock Among these is a gold headed cane with a diamond m its handle as big as the head of a lead pencil There are swords of cold a dress sword brilliant with diamonds Thomas Jefferson has left a golden sword here It came from the Orient and was taken from the patent office ice for the museum The Washington relics rel-ics have only a few silver articles but they contain many fine pieces of china and cut glass The punch bowl is as big as a half bushel measure and there are decanters of all shapes and sizes Some of the plates were given by Lafayette to Mrs Washington Washing-ton and the museum has lately received from the family of Lewis Washington a number of autograph letters which have never been published His camp plates are also hero and there is a letter in Washing tons hand writing in vhich he invites some ladies to dine with him from these plates It is dated at West Point and shows that Washington though he appreciated the good things of this life and likeo toeat his dinner off ot fine linen and liked to drink his wine out of cut glass could gel along with ham and greens and had the happy faculty of making the best of things This letter reads Camp at Vest Point i Since our arrival at tbis spot wjarhavo had a ham and sometimes a shoulder bacon to grace the head of the table apiece a-piece of roast beef adorns tho foot and a small dish of greens or beans almost imperceptible perceptible decorates the center when the the cook has a mind to cut a figure and this I presume he will attempt to do tomorrow to-morrow Of late ho had the surprising luck to discover that apples will make pies and its a question that amidst his efforts we dont get one of apples instead of haying hay-ing both of beef We have two beefsteak pies or dishes of crabs in addition on each side of the centre dish dividing the space and reducing the distance between dish and dish to about six feet which without them would be twelve feet apart If the ladies can put up with such an entertainment and will submit to partake of it on plates once tin but now ironbecome so by the labor of scouring shall be happy to see them GEORGE WASHINGTON COSTLY DRESSES MILLION DOLLAR CLOAK I There are a vast number of fine dresses from all parts of the world in the National museum and the most extraordinary article arti-cle of this kind is the million dollars feather cape This cape is about as large as the or dinary water proof cloak It comes from the Sandwich Islands and it is made UD of red and yellow feathers so fastened together to-gether that they overlap each other and form a smooth surface These feathers I shine like the finest of floss silk and the red feathers are far prettier than the yellow ones It is the yellow feathers however I that are expensive They are about an inch long and are worth in the country in which they are found fifty cents apiece They were in times past taken for taxes by the Hawaiian kings They are taken from a little bird known as the uho which is very rare and very shy and very difficult to capture Each bird has two of these ycl low feathers under his wing and the birds are caught in traps and the feathers pulled out and they are then freed There is a letter in the museum from the Prince of the Sandwich Islands who states that it took more than one hundred years to make this coat and the authorities the museubi say that according to the Sandwich Islands estimate is worth more than the finest diamonds dia-monds in the English regalia This cloak belongedto a chief of the Sandwich Island who rebelled when slavery was abolished there in 1S19 He owned this cloak and when he was killed in battle it came into the hands of the King who gave it to Commodore Com-modore Aulick in 1S41 It still beloncs to this mans grandchildren but it is depos lied in the museum for exhibition In another an-other case there two other capes of these same feathers and in another part of the museum there are some fine specimens of cashmere shawls One of these is about ten feet long and five feet wide and it was given by the Imaum of Muscat to the wife of Lieutenant Shields in Ihil It wonder fully beautiful It is made entirely with the neeale and must have taken years in its manufacture The asthetic dress of lS sent here by some dress reformersat that costume of terra cqtta satin lined with white cashmere It is the same dress as that worn by the ladies to day SOME JEWELS OF THE SULTAN The order of the Shefekat which the Sul tan gave to Mrs E S Cox is also kept in i the National museum It is a slarbiggc around than a trade dollar which sparkle with more than a hundred diamond These diamonds are set in gold on a brown gold and preen enamel The star has live points and there are twentysix diamonds on each point It has a Ueautifulribbo sash connected with it and it was given to Mrs Coxone night at the Sultans palac when she went there with her husband to dinner and ate Turkish viands served up by a French cook on gold plates After the dinner was over the Sultan presented this to her She thought I am told that she was to have it forever but it seems that his Majesty only lends such presents for life and that when she dies it is to bo sent back to him The wife of Minister Straus was presented with this same order and I suppose that she will have to return it in the distant future The Sultan I am told has somo of the finest jewels in the world I met the other day a lady who had visited his treasure chamber at Constantinople and she says she passed through room after room packed full of gold and precious stones She described to me Dc golden cradle in which the Sultans of the past have been rocked and says that it was of solid gold set with precious stones She describes a bed quilt set with pearls of al shapes and sizes and says that there are at least two bushels of hand mirrors whose frames blaze with diamonds which have been used by the ladies of the harem One i of the biegest emeralds in the world is in i the Sultans vaults and though his whole country is bankrupt he has more than a million dollars tied up in useless trinkets JEWELS OF SAVAOES Uncle Sam has a vast collection of the jewels of savages He has silver ware made by the Indians of Arizona carved ornaments or-naments from Alaska and great bracelet and anklets of gold silver and brass from India One of the most curious necklace I in his collection is one of human lingers which the medicine men of some of the Indian In-dian tribes wear and I looked at onto on-to day made of sixty seven human teeth with boles pierced at their roots to string them This necklace was ten inches long and number of tho teeth evidently peed filling It came from the Fiji Islands and was found there in 140 Another necklace was made of human hair into which th tusk of the walrus was woven It was about two inches thick and twenty inches long Another savage necklace is one of human and dog teeth combined and there are necklaces of stone of gold silver copper cop-per and brass of all shapes and size gathered from all parts of the world It is hard to appreciate the size of the National museum Tt is growing faster than Jonahs gourd and it is now ono of he best organized museums in the world It I I j surpasses any other museum in the line of Indian antiquities and matters connected with America and vast additions from all parts of the world are received every year ready thebuilding which was constructed a few years ajo for it is packed to bursting burst-ing and a new one will have to be built very soon Miss GnuNDY JR |