REMARKABLE MUSEUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19833, 31 December 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

REMARKABLE MUSEUM.

RELICS OF FAMOUS BANK.

THOMAS OOTJTTS' GUINEA.,

TIPPING- r A MILLIONAIRE, To be worth more than £900,000/ fee mistaken ior a beggar, and presented with a golden guinea by a benevolent stranger is an embarassing experience which falls to the lot of few men. Yet hidden away in a glass case in the hall of the head office of Messrs. Coutts, the' famous bankers, is a coin which was bestowed in this way upon Thomas Coutts, the founder Of the firm, when at thei height of his influence and fame.

Cherished as a "lucky token" by Mrs/ Coutts until her death, this coin now forms part of a wonderful Collection of letters and ;;*Hcs recently retrieved frcra the archives of the bonk and displayed for public inspection. Creased with age and soiled with the finger-prints of persons long forgotten, the documents in the Coutts* collection conjure up vivid pictures of the passions and

sacrifices of years gone by. Tucked away in one corner is a letter signed in the quavering hand of extreme old age. It was penned by "Old Q," the third Earl of March and Duke of Queensbury, a few months before his death and directs the bank to pay the debts of Emma, Lady Hamilton.

Scandals were choice morsals to society gossips at the beginning of last century and never was a greater flutter caused than when news of the association of George IV., then Prince of Wales, with the beautiful Mi's. Fitzher'oert was whispered abroad. 'Although not generally known at the time, the Prince married her secretly, Mrs. Fitzherbf?rt received a quarterly allowance of £IOOO and a draft on Coutts* Bank for this amount in her own handwriting may be seen in the collection.

Romance and daring were the spice of Thomas Coutts* life. Known as "The Court Banker," lie spent much of his time in the company of royalty and was, in many cases, their personal confidant, A gknce at his memorandum book reveals tho secret of his popularity. After making two "loans" of £SOOO each to Charles James Fox, the statesman, Coutts calmly noted for the instruction of his subordinates the words "Nevur to be demanded" over the details of these transactions. It was probably generosity of this kind that won Inm the lasting friendship of George 111. Near letters from famous authors like Dickens, Ainsworth and Wilkie Collins,

and actors such as Sir Henry Irving and Charlfi? Kean, is a' letter that grips tho attention. It was from Louis Phillipe, King of France. Written at Newhaven on March 3, 1848, this letter is of great historical' interest, for it H-as composed immediately after Louis l?ad landed in England following his deposition. Asking for £3OO, the exking adds: "I am safely arrived in England, where I shall go by the title of Count de Neuiilly." Pathetic is a letter Bigned in sprawling characters which straggle awkwardly from one side of the" sheet to the of This is a note to the bank from George the blind King of Hanover, who . si' with Austria against Prussia in the of 1866.. His armies routed, he was posed and exiled. » Letters from Que,.an Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, and many other famous persons have places in this unique collection and there is one written to Thomas Coutts by Lord George Gordon, who headed the London "No Popery" riots of 1780. This was written from Newgate and thanks the bauker for inauirias he ha_d made after the health of tho writer^