PRICELESS RELICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19452, 7 October 1926, Page 8

PRICELESS RELICS.

CHURCH'S STOLEN TREASURE. FRAGMENTS FOUND IN FIELD. It is now beyond doubt, said a correspondent early in August, that tho valuable and historical objects stolen from the treasury of Notro Dame de Ciery, near Orleans, on the night of July 25, are lost beyond recovery. The treasures included "many priceless gifts from Louis XI., Louis XIV., and Napoleon, among them vessels of gold and silver set with precious stones, and a monstrance in which were set a famous black pearl and a large diamond which Louis XI. took from his crown to present to the church. The commercial value of the stolen articles was about £IO,OOO.

A woman cutting lucerne in a field near the church has discovered parts of tho missing treasure scattered among her crop. Fragments of gold cups, the pedestal of tho monstrance,, enamelled medallions, and a number of precious stones were found scattered in the field as though the robbers had strewn them about after packing up what they wished to keep. Fragments which have been recovered show that tho sacred plate had been broken up with a hammer and chisel, aud it is now believed that tho thieves, having made their way out of tho church on the night of tho robbery, sat in the lucerne field and broke their booty into fragments to facilitate transportation, probably flinging the pieces of gold and silver into a sack to be taken away and melted down.