QUEEN MARY’S TREASURES ON DISPLAY IN LONDON

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27376, 15 June 1954, Page 2

QUEEN MARY’S TREASURES ON DISPLAY IN LONDON

‘ Correspondent of “The Press”)

LObpON, May 27. The most extensive a»d valuable collection of treasures ever taken from a Royal homßfor public display were on show in the Victoria and Albert Museum this week. Arranged by permission of the Queen, the collection consists of the furniture and objects of art collected by Queen Mary during her lifetime and among which she spent the last years of her life in Marlborough House/ Although officials of ihe museum are reluctant to place any Value on the collection, estimates of 1 its worth run into hundreds of thousands, pounds. On show are some 35Q snuff boxes, 200 cases containing hundreds of miniatures, clocks, watches, porcelain, period furniture, paintings and more than 3000 other exhibits chosen from the late Queen’s collection. But although the exquisitely fashioned diamond studded gold snuff boxes and jewelled trinkets dominate the exhibition, it is the personal collection of clothing worn by Queen Mary that recalls the memory of a queen who resolutely carried her own style throughout her life.

• On. show -are her characteristic toques, her elegant parasols which she rarely moved without and a group of dresses made for historic occasions. One is a gold dress Queen Mary wore at Coronation of her son. Another, a velvet gown she wore at the wedding of the Queen and another, a favourite pale blue dress, she had made for the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1951 when the Festival of Britain was opened. Many mementoes of foreign royalty are included in the collection. One piece, a jewelled clock, was given to Queen Mary by the Empress Marie of Russia. Another, a fabulous easter egg fashioned in platinum, gold and pearls, made by Carl Faberge, was presented by the Tsar to the Tsarina in 1914.

Queues to see the collection have already started at the museum. When the museum showed a carpet Queen Mary embroidered a few years ago, there were more than 96,000 visitors in a month.

Extra guides have been selected to handle the large crowds who are expected to see the treasures. The exhibition will close on December 31.