MR PIERPONT MORGAN'S POSSESSIONS. —An Unrivalled Collection.—

Otago Witness, Issue 2771, 24 April 1907, Page 71

MR PIERPONT MORGAN'S POSSESSIONS. — An Unrivalled Collection. —

If the possessions of Mr Pit. pent Morgan were to come under th-_ aucUoneei s iiamnitr, wi'nat a /sensation the"i_- -would be! He has an estimated cash fortune of £20,000,000 to £30,000,000. He owns palatial mansions in New York, London, and the- country, and pleasure yachts and private railway trains which enable him to travel like royalty. His houees are treasure depositories in which he is accumulating the finest pictures and curios it is possible for any single individual to obtain, his ambition being to get together an unrivalled collection of "the costliest things in the ■world."'

The following aie among his principal ir?-asures, the sums in parentheses being the prices he paid for tln-m : — A Raphael Madonna (£100,000) ; four superb tapestries (£100,000) ; 10 panels by Fragonard (£100,000) ; Gainsborough's "Stolen Duchess" (£30,000) ; the Pfungst collection of antique bronzes (£15,000) ; the Garet collection of Rembrandt etching* (£15,000) ; a collection of famous old silver (£80,000) ; three Gainsborough portraits (£40,000 each) : a marvellous maible table by Gauthier (£70.000) ; and many famous books for which he has paid scores of thousands ■of jounds.

His London Louvre. —

His art teeasures alone have cost him £700,000, aiid the bulk of these are housed in his mansion, No. 13 Prince'e Gate, T^heie he has had two hous's thrown into one>. The <xkl fact ;s reported :hat not a single tlung in these houses iS irsure-d. A'ot that Mr Morgan it camlets of his valuables, for he contracts for two etout coi'jtable>, who guard his premises in ei^ht-hour shifts, and a!togvt!>cv ho keeps a staff of six London polxem-i-n. who watch Ilia pobies c ioiin eluriii^ the lour.d t>f the clock. N-o. 13 Piuuti Gate- is quite a. jjlhiii looking, typical l>or.don Wt^t End inaii.-ion, but the free-hold oi it eobt him a matter of £30,000.

— Storehouse i>i Masterpieces —

Altogether, the pictures iiloi.e at No. 13 Prince's Gate must be worth £500.000. Among them, hriides thcee already mentioned, are piicek-e Turneib. a full-length Van Dyck, Greuzts, Reynolds, ai<d miniatures by Holbein, including one of Honry VIII. Scattered around are "articles of vertu'" of extraoidautry beauty. A eommocle and eecie-taire which belonged to Marie Antoinette aie worth £50,000 the pair. Three Ro:-e dv Barri vas-ee oo.'-t £10,000, and aie now worth £25.000. Alniast every piece of furniture- is a m..sterpieee. In a. window overlooking Hyde Park is a table- devoted to tnaanels and anuff boxes, each article on which, however small, cost hur.du-ds of pounds. A single snuff box in the collection is worth £4000.

■Ransacked the Eaith. —

If thp pictures at No. 13 are valued at £500,000. the furniture ar.d dteorsitonfc of the house aie worth a.m/t)>tr £500.000. The cleverest workmen and artiits in fhe •world were engaged in the dte:«rations. and the effect of the whole is th.it of a mmiatuie Lauvre. When Mr Morgan was first t-e-ixed with ths ambition to ..ccumulate treasure lie despatched half a du/.cn misted XMTinussioners to Euiope with ir»sti actions ■to buy up eveiy masterpiece in the art world that money could purchase. Tho commissioners took him at his word. They attacked museums and private collections, and canied off objects of valu«r at un-heard-of piioes. They ransacked cathedralh an-d quiet Italian towns, and because an agent found a valuable picture in a peasant's house in Normandy every eotiaize m Normandy was st arched for rare landscapes by Corot.

—Collection Worth a Mil'ion. —

Mr Morgan's greatest single purchase was effected last June, w hen he bought for £1,040,000 the famous Rodolphe Kann collection of pictures, which comprises splendid examples of the Dutch, Flemish, and eigtheenth-century French schools. It includes 11 Rembrandts, and woTks of itubea»>, Van Dyck, Greuzc, Watuau. and

other masters At the same nine tl.e ntuUi-miiiionaire paid o\er £80.000 for some splendid S'.uiptuies belonging to M. Edouard Karm.

—A £10.000 Book.—

Besides owning the tuicst pictures in any individual collection. Mr Morgan has aisa the costliest print library. Here arc 6ome of his book treasures, with the prices he paid for them: — A set of Aldines (£30,000): a Caxton (£1000): the onginal MS. of Byron's "Corsair" and of Lvtton's "Last Days of Pompeii" (£2000); the "Evangelia Quatuor," Lour.d in bb j aten gold studded with precious stones (£10,000) ; the Syston Park Psalter (5000 guineas) ; the MS. of Ruskin's "Seven Lamps of Architecture" (£5003) ; the MS. of "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Tabk- ' (£800) ; a set of Dickens (£10,000) ; an Old Testament illuKtiated by Titsot (£1000) ; the "Psalmorum Codex." d-tscubed as "the grandest book ever printed' 1 (£6000) ; and last, but by no means least, William Morlis'.s entire library of 700 books, including 35 Caxtons, for which Mr Morgan paid nearly a million sterling.

— Travels Like a Monarch. —

But Mr Morgan's poss\.ssaons are by no means solely comprised of pictuiccs, vasts, and books. Heowns a superb special tiain in America which has right ot way over all other trains. On the Southern railway all passenger trains are shunted 15 minutes bei'oie the approach of Ins specal, and gofds trams are obliged to take to the -■iding? half an hour before it is signalled. Hts pakitial ste^m yacht co*>t moie than £100,000 to bviild. " Even in such small matters as rx;t dogs ai.d cigars his tastes are princely. He has givtn as much a^s £2000 for four coilies, and the usual price It- pays for cigars is £&0 per 1000. On*s of his paitnc-rs. however, pays £180 per 1000. Mr Morgan's emails aie specially made for him in Havana. Eaoh has a red bund with god lettering and the initials "J.P.M." Sometimes tluse labe's are found on the floor after his board meetings, and then there is a great scramble for them, .is they are reuardtd as mascots in Wall street.

— Mt up.-iidous Financial Interests. —

i i.« v;st iinanual mteiests controlled by Mr Morgan are estimated at a gnuxl total oi £1,311.300.000, a stupendous turn, which is nearly twice the sum of the British national debt, and would pay the cost of ci.v South African wars as expensive as ihe last. This amount covers the following propei ties : — Ships, £34,000,000: industrial, £404,150,000; banks, £37,000,000; miscellaneous (mostly telegraph and insurance companies), £40,000,000. In view of all this, one can harJly wonder that during the formp.tion of the great shipping combine the famous financier's life was heavily insured by speculators and investors. In some cases the premium paid for the policies was as much as 50s per cent, for a period of thrae months. — "More Powerful than the Czar." —

This is Low the Americans, who love big things, are in the habit of summing up Mr Morgan : — He is a greater power in Europe than many <>f its kin<£s. He has completely eclipsed th-e Rothschilds. His name is a talisman with which to conjure not millions-, but billions. He wields more powvr over more people than the Czar of Russia. He is sought by emperors and kings. The greatest financier in all history. H^ has more influent,*. 1 than tlv President of the United States. The most important one man in the world to-day. Ho controls more capital than any other man in the univei-^". In a single businu-s day he co,i] 1 fill a subscript -on foi 5 D0, 000, 000d0l for ,m enterprise he would fn^orse and -w ouVl t/A be asked even to explain it. — M.A P.