CROWN JEWELS FOUND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 810, 2 November 1929, Page 31

CROWN JEWELS FOUND

STOLEN FROM HUNGARY IN MOROCCAN CITY The “Hapsburg Treasure,” the Hungarian crown jewels that were stolen from Vienna in 1927, are reported as having turned up in French Morocco. Police of Hungary and of France are working on the case. A member of former Empress Zita’s household, who followed the royal family into exile in Spain, said that these jewels should not be confused with the family jewels belonging to the late Emperor Carl. Those were dissipated, this court official said, by jewel sharks who sold them for less than their value and squandered the proceeds, leaving Zita and her eight children destitute, i The jewels reported to have been found in Africa were those set in the diadem, surmounted by the crown of St. Stephen, that the late Empress Maria Theresa used to wear on special occasions in the royal palace in Budapest. According to the police report an Italian offered them for sale to a Jewish dealer at Saffi, French Morocco. The dealer informed the police and the Italian was arrested. He is said to have pleaded that he was the innocent tool of persons prominent in the social life of Austria.

The family jewels form the subject of another story. Large quantities of diamonds, pearls, rubies and emeralds, many of them wedding presents to Zita, have been auctioned in Loudon. Paris and Geneva, and the member of her household who told about them said that some of those gems are being worn by rich Americans who are unaware of their origin. When Carl abdicated in 1918, he and his family were allowed to take only personal jewellery with them into exile. Large quantities of them were sold in 1921 and 1922 by Barou Charles Steiner, master of the late emperor’s household. In 1926 Zita began* suit in Switzerland to recover some of the proceeds from these sales. It was charged that the barou had disposed of a number of gems without her knowledge at too low a price, and without giving her the benefit of the proceeds. She accused Steiner of embezzlement, but the Swiss courts dismissed the action and gave the baron nominal damages of 100 francs. The former empress then turned to the French courts and brought suit against some Parisian jewellers in the Rue de la Paix, charging that they had acquired at high prices many of the jewels that Baron Steiner had sold in Switzerland. The jewellers rejoined that they had bought the stones in good faith through an intermediary after they had convinced themselves that this agent had full authority to conduct the transactions. They also contended that the purchase money had been duly turned over to Zita. Archduke Max, Zita's brother-in-law, and the Princes Sixte and Xavier de Bourbon de Parme testified in behalf of Zita, but again her suit was dismissed.