HISTORIC PEARLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 20

HISTORIC PEARLS.

RELIC OF NAPOLEON. JOSEPHINE'S WEDDING GIFT. Pearl necklaces are a fertile source of worry—worry to women who want them, to others who win and lose them, to men who have to pay for them, and to the police who have to hunt for them. Now a pearl necklace is getting into the law courts, says a London paper, and soon a magistrate and the bar will have to get busy about a very pretty string with a turquoise clasp. This string has a romantic history. It was given in 1796 by that ardent lover, General Napoleon Bonaparte, to Mme. Josephine Beauharnais when the handsome Creole became the wife of the First Consul. Mme. Bonaparte was destined to receive richer and rarer jewels from the hand of her husband, who later mounted the throne as Emperor. But to the end she preferred that first pearl necklace, and it was round her throat when she drew her last breath in the sad Malmaison villa which was her home after the historical "Royal Divorce." Then Josephine's daughter, Queen Hortense, inherited the jewel, which later passed from hand to hand until it became the property of a wealthy Italian woman, who took' it to Paris with her last, winter. For a month the Baroness stayed in a hotel in the Champs Elvsees. One night she opened the case, intending to wear the necklace, and, behold, it was gone! Moreover, notwithstanding all the efforts of the police, she has not recovered the precious ornament. So now she is bringing an action against the hotel and the case was fixed to be heard in Paris this mnnlV i