THE GOLDEN FLEECE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21668, 11 June 1932, Page 15

THE GOLDEN FLEECE

HISTORIC DECORATION PROUD DOWAGER’S HEIRLOOS SAD STORY FROM VIENNA. A scene in a Vienna night club and the duelling challenges exchanged because the Archduke Leopold Salvator wore the revered Order of the Golden Fleece dangling from the waist of a hunting suit form but one of the many scandals which have recently beset that historic decoration /says the Vienna correspondent of the Daily Express). The golden chain of the ancient order of chivalry, rivalling in importance the English Order of the Garter, and bestowed by the late Emperor on the cream of the Roman Catholic nobility alone, has known sordid adventures since the Austrian monarchy was swept away after the war. A Viennese dentist has related a story, poignant in the simplicity of its tragedy. It is as follows: " The other day an elderly Austrian woman of title, widow of a nobleman who . had held high rank at the imperial court, came to see me, carrying a heavy leather box stamped with the imperial crown. “ It was the same old story of a pauperised invalid, her estates confiscated, her .wealth lost in inflation. She came to me with all she had left in the world, an order of chivalry, magnificent with rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, which had been worn on great occasions by her husband in those days of power before the war. the Golden Fleece. “ The woman could have sold the precious relic to a museum for a great , sum, but she preferred to crumple the order to pieces and the jewels and settipgs separately rather than defile it by allowing it to pass untouched into strange hands. ‘ You will pick out the jewels and hammer the gold for me,’ the dowager said stiffly, and left the room. “ With my drill I gouged out the jewels forming the eyes of the golden ram’s head and the other precious stones from the chain and setting. I have hurt many persons in my practice, but never have I felt a feeling of, such distress as when I broke up this historic chain. It was like torturing a living animal. The carved golden fleece seemed to twist and turn in my fingers. I thought the stones would cry out.” 5 The dentist displayed a crumpled mass . of gold and tiny jewels loosely rolling in a big leather case, and in that box could be read the story of Imperial Vienna and , her tragic fall. As the visitor passed out under the doorway of the old 'Viennese palace where the dentist, like so many other professional and business men, has his office, he looked ! up over the gateway. There, carved in stonet draped round an ancient coronet and coat of arms, was a gilded chain, gleaming in the wintry sun, with the figure of a hanging ram. This mute figure indicated that the original ” owner of the palace, though penniless, was entitled to wear this century-old order.