Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

25 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

FIELD AND FARM.

IGARDENING GOSSIP. I

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-NERYIE'S LESSON.

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION".…

THE RED CROSS AT SEA. I

THE MARLBOROUGH GEMS. I

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE MARLBOROUGH GEMS. I The immediately forthcoming sale of the Marl. borough gems in London will be the most important of its kind held in Ergland since June, 1875; and that sale was the sale (says the Daily Mail) of the same collection. On that occasion they were put up to auction in one lot, the reserve being fixed at £ 35,000. Sir William Agnew (he was then plain Mr.") promptly offered 35,000 guineas, and, there being no other offer, the collection was knocked down to him, to the acute disappointment of the large crowd of gem- lovers who had hoped that the collection would be offered in several lots. The real purchaser was Mr. David Bromilow, of Bitteswell Hall, Lutterworth. Mr. Bromilow main- tained the collection in its integrity. Now that he is dead, the gems, which the third Duke of Marl- borough spent the best part of his life in gathering together, come again into the market. There is no chance of another dramatic surprise, inasmuch as the lots are to be offered separately. It is urged that some of the choicest examples should be purchased for the British Museum, but this is no more than a pious hope. The museum probably lost its last chance when, nearly a century ago, Lady Betty Germain offered a portion of it to them for £ 10,000. Although the sum was much less than cost price, the offered was declined. The Marlborough gems are cameos and intaglios, and every gem has its pedigree. Most of them belong to the centuries between the reign of Augustus and the end of the Antonine period. The best are of the Hadrian period, and the collection is said to be free from spurious imitations. Included in the collection obtained from Medina, the Leghorn Jew, is a gem once given by an Emperor to a Pope. A cameo 8fin. by 6in., representing a pair of imperial heads with emblems, ranks as one of the most impor- tant cameos known, by reason of its size, its exquisite workmanship, and the evenness of the deposits of sard. Most of the gems are chalcedony in one or other of its forms. Then come the garnets, the amethyst, the beryl, the sapphire, the peridot, and the emerald. The chalcedonic minerals were the favourite material, both for their hardness, which yielded readily to the diamond and emery dust of the wheel, and for their toughness, which enabled them to resist the tooth of time. There are 10 chal- cedonies to one of any other material. The Arundel part of the collection reached the House of Marlborough by a tortuous path. From the Lord Arundel who gathered them they descended to the seventh Duke of Norfolk; from the duke they passed to his divorced duchess; from the duchess to her second husband; from the husband to his second wife; from the second wife to her great-niece, who married a brother of the third Duke of Marl- borough and from her, by a family arrangement, to the duke.

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I THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME.

EXPEDITION TO MOUNT KENIA.

BOER NAMES FOR THE BRITISH.…

TICKETS TO MATRIMONY. I

ALIEN IMMIGRATION.

BATH'S HISTORIC HOUSES. I

DEAD OR ALI YE—WHICH ?I

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I _THE QUEEN'S LEVEE.7

I _EXPLOSIVES BY POST.

ASCENSION DAY.

FIFTEEN CHILDREN DROWNED.

-BRITISH MUSEUM'S GIFT.

MR. CECIL RHODES, "D. C. L."

GOLD IN A MATTRESS.

THE WRECK OF THE LOCH SLAY.

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