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Show The Bible Account of Sheba's Visit to Solomon with Gifts of Gold and (r Precious Stones . Kings, 101, 2, 10. And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame oj Solomon concerning con-cerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of I spices very great W store, and precious I stones In her ears. Mention of the Queen of Sheba was enough. The newspaper reporters, report-ers, wise In the wiles of diamond . "smugglers," paused to hear no more they had a new Queen of Sheba story! After having that Btory translated for him by his attorney, Mr. Anti-xadjian Anti-xadjian promptly sealed his lips on 'he subject of traditions concerning Ms seized property, and set about "Is task as an expert of proving, simply, that the diamonds were antiques. an-tiques. Anybody but an expert would find this rather difficult In the way of Inscriptions, carvings or design most antiques proclaim themselves as such. Here were two unset, crudely cut, pear-shaped stones, each pierced through the small end, each about as bg a3 the first Joint of an average little finger that was all. Nevertheless, when Mr. Antikad-Jlan Antikad-Jlan was examined by Collector 'Ma-lone 'Ma-lone he answered with the confidence confi-dence of an expert. Here are essential essen-tial parts of the examination: Q- In connection with vour business busi-ness you travelled about a good ORal? ' ' KV "7 r ' - rf ' V' ' r ir "s? H "t-, " - , ; i - . 4 - ' 1 . . ?; i.v ' . , : p f n , ;l Lvvi;-, K,y:yJ. sr,-:;r' Y w I -fu", -yy y y-yy y. 4 ; : . : ' : : "VCgfBSiljM , . 71,6 Queen of Sheba's Visit tc King Solomon From the Celebrated Painting by Sir E. J. Poynter, of the Royal Academy ouia the Curious Twin- 'Diamond Eardrops Held at the New York Custom House, Actual 'fy Have Been Worn by the Ancient Queen TN a safe at the ,.T. .MlSl Vl . i 1 6 KlUg SolomOU 7 , ? I House repose two crudely cut, unset diamonds which tradition, says once belonged to the Queen of Sheba. Officially, the Collector of the Port is not interested in traditions. tradi-tions. He Is holding the diamonds as dutiable until he receives satisfactory satis-factory proof that they belong to the classification of "Antiques," Which are admitted free of duty. The stones were imported from Constantinople and brought to Aerica on the person of Mr. A. An-' tikadjian, an Armenian antiquarian and dealer In antiques. Being uncut un-cut in the modern sense of the, term they possessed no lustre and were passed by the inspectors among other antiques carried by Mr. AntiKadjian. Later, in a Maiden lane Jewelry shop, where they were offered of-fered for sale, they were discovered to be diamonds, though of inferior water," worth about $65 a carat 51,200 for the pair, as they weighed approximately nine karats each. The Jeweller notified the customs authorities. The diamonds were seized, and then, before he stopped to consider what the effect of his ex- Vtraordlnary statement would be, Mr. Antikadjian told the newspaper re-j re-j porters his "Queen of Sheba" story; not because he believed it would have any weight with the customs officers, but by way of emphasizing his claim that the stone3 were genuine genu-ine antiques. He had purchased them, he said, of an Egyptian princess, In whose Tamily they had been handed down as heirlooms from the time of the first of the Pharaohs. The tradition was that they had belonged to the Queen of Sheba. who had worn them A. les. I travelled around buying '. articles which I sold to antiquarians ot and amateurs. na Q. What was yvrur Constantinople , address? A. No. 14 Ziridjirli-han, Grand te( Bazaar. the Q. Where did you have these dia- sh( mauds in your baggage or on your pi. person?' jr A. I had them on my person with jr other antiques. t Q. What were the other antiques? r A. Seventeen antique silver Greek coins, two gold ones, and one gold jnot buckle. ja 0' Q. From whom did you buy the.ltutj diamonds? 'si A. From an Egyptian princess i ntin Constantinople. . p Q. What is the lady's name? :erat A. I cannot say I bought thfcy -aim through a broker named Moustap 0f ' ha. Q. What made you think them ; .akn-tiques? .akn-tiques? A. The crude cutting of them ' is more than 250 years old. Q. What makes you think t hey were used as earrings? i A. They were used only as (earrings. (ear-rings. They are a pair, each of the same size and of the same kind, ; and the pointed end of each is pierc ed. Q. You believe them to be ; ;parts of earrings now? ; A. Yes and 11 the world would agree to that. Being a certificated antiqu. arian, with a professional reputatic -m at stake, Antikadjian naturally. ne would make no formal claim that hi. 3 diamonds dia-monds had once belonged tc the Queen of Sheba. He would not i even refer to the existing tradition to :, that effect especially to customs i officials, offi-cials, who are the reverse of 'cred ulous in such cases. It was en lough for him to present expert evic tlence showing that they were antiqu 'ities, and as such were exempt from c luty. To show that the crude cuttinj g of the stones proves them to be "n. jore than 250 years old" was technic; 'Tilly sufficient 'a' it is upon the acceptance of "'this proof that B. A. Levett, the . et Ar. menian's attorney, expects to h -ave the Queen of Sheba's diamonds g 'admitted 'ad-mitted free of duty. ., '; That uncut diamonds were incli &. ed among the "precious stones"3' " which the Queen of Sheba brouglp' t to Jerusalem with the "hundred aniunet. twenty talents of gold, and of spice;1 b very great store," which she pre- sented to King Solomon, there is no of cot. reason to doubt; or that these stones ollecta formed part of her own regal adorn- 'far ot ment. Even in that ancient time long before any means of cutting either diamonds or rubies had been discovered the diamond was cele- wj,ei brated and treasured as the rarest , . and most valuable of precious stones. Accordingly, the Queen of Sheba, ranking next to Solomon in wealth and power and wisdom, certainly ., must have possessed diamonds, and Vorn them, and given them the place honor among the Jewels that or- mented her crown and sceptre, fl .at the diamond was highly es-;n es-;n 'led among precious stones by i . Hebrews in the earliest times is iwn by its position in the breast-:kte breast-:kte of the high priest. Its name Hebrew is "jahalom," and in all nglish translations of the Bible fliat word appears as "diamond." t'he old Jewish doctors identified it ,'as the third In the second row of stones in the breast-plate. The stones were toot placed according to the degree of their preciousness, but each was a tribal symbol, and that was what established their order on the breast-plate. The jewelled setting of the breast-plate is thus described In tha thirty-ninth chanter of Exodus: "And they set in four rowj of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz and a carbuncle: this was the first row. "And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire and a diamond. "And the third row, a ligure, aa agate, and an amethyst. "And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they were inclosed in-closed in outfhes of gold in their ln-closings. ln-closings. "And the stones were according to the names of the Children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes." ' Thus, practically at the beginning of Jewish history, and long before the era of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the diamond was known and held high rank among precious stones. But owing to its extreme hardness it had to be used and worn in its natural state as is indicated in the first mention of it in the literature of the ancient Greeks. About the third century B. C. it appears that the Greeks knew the diamond as "Adamas," "the unsubduable," so named by reason of its extreme hardness and power of resisting fire. From this Greek word the name, "diamond," Is derived through the Latin "diamas." Later Pliny wrote of the diamond that it exceeded In value "all human hu-man things," and itB use was con-. con-. fined to kings, and to few even of them. Pliny mentions varieties of the diamond of such unspeakable hardness that when struck with a hammer even the Iron of the hammer ham-mer and of the anvil "were torn asunder." As Juvenal testifies, even as late as -the early period of the Roman Empire when diamonds were highly high-ly esteemed by the Roman ladies these stones could not be artificially cut or even polished. They were brilliant only when they possessed faces in the rough which had received re-ceived a natural polish through centuries cen-turies of rubbing against other stones in their native bosom of the earth. It was not until the year 1476 A. D., when Ludwig van Berghem discovered discov-ered the mode of cutting and polishing polish-ing it, that the diamond slowly gained, in modern times, the first place among gems which it had enjoyed en-joyed among the ancients. Among all the ancients who so Highly esteemed diamonds though unable to cut and polish them in the modern fashion the highly cultured Queen of Sheba would have been most likely to exhaust all means of adapting them to her persona! adornment. adorn-ment. Though her artisans were unable un-able to alter the shape of these stones, as modern lapidaries do, to pierce them for use as pendants was not an impossible task in the light of what we know of the ingenuity and persistence of craftsmen In metals and precious stones, who toiled for the exaltation of th crowned autocrats of the ancient world. 1 wiy Ay yyp: 1 -..a y'ym The pear-shaped, unset diamond dia-mond ear-drops believed to have belonged to tha famous fa-mous queen, of Bible history. his-tory. They weigh a total of 18 karats about the 6lze of the first Joint of your llttla finger and their crude cutting cut-ting Is of a very snclent period. Each Is pierced through Its apex, evidently to facilitate Its use aa n ear pendant. " ' ' i r , -J ... I The pear-shaped, unset dla- ' iZ t J"Py' ' 3" " ,1 , ' mond ear-drops believed to j ; ' ' "r t 1 - hav8 beonged to tha fa- ' " , " A, ' 1 " J mous queen' of Bible hl- 4a, ' Xi"1 ' j " iory- They weigh a total of y. t if' rA 't - v I' 18 karats about the 6lze of ' ' ft , -v " I the first Joint of your little ' ' " is ' - ' ' - x j. ! finger and their crude cut- H"-"" . .'itS, ' , 1'V-'A ting Is of a very ancient ' si " ? " t ' ' I period. Each Is pierced . s .mv y ' ywk. l throuah iu apox' evident,y "r - 1 1 5ctyH . nV -S to facilitate Its use aa n . - : jL-v-,.&y "r pendant- oynter, of the Royal Academy. "C. ' the New York '"''O ncient Queen Jy"i flV""::'- y y y mi vi b bJ yj y w A Very Ancient Abyssinian Wall Painting R epresenting the Queen of Sheba Mounted oa a Richly Caparisoned Horse Led by a Slave. |