KAISER’S THRONE FOR SALE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10640, 13 July 1920, Page 9

KAISER’S THRONE FOR SALE

IMPERIAL FURNITURE IN NEW YORK. SEIZED BY TRADESMEN FOR DEBT. NEW YORK, May 22. Another act in the greatest game yet played upon the - world’s stage—a drama such as has never, been written by any author,- i tragedy such as has never before been presented—has been disclosed. , The cx-Kaiser Wilhelm’s throne, with 64 articles of Imperial furniture, has arrived here for sale at an early date. The authenticity of the' relics is guaranteed. When the Kaiser fled his tradespeople in Berlin were left with accounts unpaid. Forgetting past favours they applied to tho courts for orders, and, jt is said, afterwards sacked- the Hohonzollern Palace as ruthlessly as tho Hohenzollerns themselves had looted . the . chateaux pf France. The Republican Government in Berlin probably desired_ this convenient dispersal of hereditary grandeur by legal process. Royal beds wore seized to pay for “Wienerwurst.” Grocers, bakers, and butchers secured' three complete- sets of furniture, including one made for the Empress Elizabeth, wife of the Emperor Friedrich Wilhelm tho Fourth, with her initials woven into the Aubusson tapestry coverings. Antiques dating back a thousand years, rugs made to the ex-Kaiser’s order- in the Near East, famous wall-hangings and all the rod plush of tho Throne Room, embroidered with Prussian eagles, were baited away in vans like so much junk- Purveyors who had grovelled to tho All Highest displayed no gratitude when thoir illustrious creditor absconded. The products of bankruptcy were soon scattered in pawnshops, whence- tho present collection of trophies has boon made- Tho further export of such faded treasures may be difficult, hut the present sordid comedy shows how simple it is to empty the palace of the Oacsars when Oaesar has fled.