AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1928, Page 12

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The Prince of Wales, speaking about jewellery at the dinner of the jewellers and silversmiths of Birmingham, said: "I would not like to say positively whether the idea of a pair of ear-rings actually sprang from the human brain before the idea of a pair of trousers, but I most certainly have noticed that whenever fresh relics of the Dark Ages are dug up by archaeologists, the evidence always goes to show that about the first job of the prehistoric craftsman was to turn to and make attractive ornaments for his lady friends. Even before the latter had awoken to the decorative properties of diamonds or rubies, they seem to have insisted on having necklaces made from the teeth of fallen enemies, or of the animal off which they had just dined. Ladies' fashions—deep waters into which I do not care to venture—must have been the hope and the despair of jewellers from time immemorial."

The latest decorations for the home are tremendous china pots planted with real wooden branches, on which are fixed sprays of composition cherry blossom, wisteria or japonica. They look quite real and alive, and two or three different plants are found in the same tub.