LOOT OF POMPEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16738, 20 May 1922, Page 3

LOOT OF POMPEY.

CATHERINE’S NECKLACE OF PEARLS. NOW IN JEWEL BOX OF WIFE OF FORMER MECHANIC. The interesting discovery that the famous necklace of pearls which Catherine the Great of Russia valued above all her large store of jewels—and, *n fact, one of the most valuable pearl necklaces in the world -has come into possession of Mrs Horace R. Dodge of Detroit has aroused a great deal of speculation upon the odd circumstances which have brought this historic bauble from the jewel box of empresses to adorn the throat of a charming American woman who, not so many years ago, was the humble housewife of a mechanic who thought he had achieved prosperity when his daily wages totalled a modest five dollars. Those who know something of the events which are associated with this necklace of the Russian Empress ar«i convinced that wherever it goes it takes with it misfortune and unhappiness, squabbles and discontent. They are wondering if Mrs Dodge, the new owner, will break the spell of evil that has so long clung to it or if she will some time regret the generous impulse of her husband which made' her its owner. PURCHASED FOR CASH. It was only the other that it be came known Mrs Dodge had been given a five strand necklace of pearls for which her husband, who since has died, gave the jewellers more than threequarters of a million dollars and gave this great sum in cash out of the daily balance of his bank account. It his not yet been formally admitted by anv of the persons concerned that this is the necklace of Catherine, hut there is good reason to believe that it could bo none other. As a 'matter of fact, those who are concerned about it have not at all denied that this is the Romanoff jewel which the Bolsheviks found had so mysteriously disappeared from the jewel coffers, ot the Winter Palace. There is no other necklace like it in the world. Of all the known necklaces, outside the collections of one or two Indian princes, it is the most valuable that ever has existed. AY hen one recalls the romance connected with this ornament of the Empress and traces it back —among the legends that have come down with it to the loot of Mithridate-s by Pompey and his Roman legions, it appears more intriguing that now. in these days when so many empresses have passed away and so many empires crumbled, it should grace the throat of the wife of one who had scant ienson to hope, a few years ago, that anv station prouder than that of a good mochanie’n would become his. Tt is somewhat doubtful. however, which has the most interesting history the pearls of Mrs Dodge, which once were the playthings of the Empress, oi the mechanic who purchased them ROW DODGE MADE HIS WEALTH. Horace Dodge, who when be di *o a few months ago left, an estate estimated at 50,000.000 dollars—much of it in cash—was with his brother John, a very good mechanic in Detroit. At his trade 35 dollars a week was the lfiost he could earn and remain steadily employed. AY hen he married a neigh’•*trur girl he found this income rather meagre. His brother was in no better circmnstances than he. The two young men then were being importuned by an inventor who claimed to own a workable idea, for a combustion engine—a. motor that could be made to run by the explosions from drops of gasoline This inventor, whose name was Henry Ford, had no money and no backing The Dodge brothers listened to him describe the proposed mechanism of his mot-or. more with the thought being polite than anymi'ng At last, after Horace Dodge married, the two mechanics decided to chance an establishment of their o.vn ; thev would set up n modest machine shop on their awn r's«p.n--T2

agreed, for want of other work. to work out in steel and. iron senue of the ideas of Henry Ford and thus give him . the assistance he had been asking cf them. In their little shop the Ford motor was born. They took for their pay a third interest in whatever it was to bring. And thus they came, after a tew amazing years, into the ownership of a third of the great lord factories. Tt was not long until “the Dodges” were among the wealthiest residents of their city. They sold their interests in the great Ford industry and began making automobiles of their own “design Tthis they were successful, too and increased their fortunes. The pearl necklace of Catherine was given Mrs Dodge by her husband as a vedding anniversary present. It was .lust a reminder, her husband said, of the old machine shoo days and the 35 dollars a week. COST OVER 800.000 DOT.EARS. The necklace was paid for by Horace Dodge with a cheque for 825.000 dollars. It had been appraised by the foremost experts in America as well as in Europe and was pronounced worth considerable more than that sum. Whether Mr Dodge knew how it escaped the 80l sheviks and who were the heirs of the Romanoffs to whom his money eventu - ally would pass may never be known. He died soon afterwards. Here again those who are familiar with the history of the necklace declare that its traditions are merelv continues: to hv-e. Those who have owned the necklace since the record of it began. all have suffered -even Catherine, who was widely beloved, was unhappy after the bauble took its place in her jewel box. The late Czarina often T ore the necklace n f Catherine during the later rears of her reign. Tt was reported shortly after the war broke out that the Czarina had given the necklace, as one of the most valuable strings of jewels in the private possession of the Romanoffs, to Rasputin, the monk, to be broken up and sold for the benefit of the poor It may never he known whether this report was true. BELIEVED TO BE CATHERINE S NECK TACT!. Of course no one can say positively that the beautiful strands of pearls brought back from his expedition against Mithridate.s by l’ompey is the same one th.a't Catherine purchased in the seventeenth century, with the Duke of Brunswick acting as her agent. But the descriptions ot the two are the same. When the necklace came into the hands of Air Dodge it was clasped with a jewelled minature of the Empress Catherine and the strands are held together with other little miniatures of the Empress. The weight of all the pearls together Is 4305 grains. All are perfectly matched in colour and sheen a task which must have been the labour of many years for the Prince or King who assembled those beautiful beads. SOME FAMOUS NECKLACES. The highest price paid for a collection of strung pearls before the Dodge purchase of Catherine s necklace was, 6/5,000 dollars, paid by a diamond merchant of London, Maxfield Mayer, who. in 1913 bought at that price a strand of beautiful pearls from a firm of French dealers. This necklace was stolen on its way to be delivered. It was sent by post from Paris to agents of the Paris house in London, and when the package arrived it was found to contain nothing but sugar. How the theft was managed was never discovered and there is no trace to-day of the missing gems America is the home of at least four other famous pearl necklaces, each with a history romantic and dramatic. George Gould and Elbert Oarv, the steel magnate, botli gave their wives strands of pearls each valued at half a million dollars. Of the many collections of pearls in India no one can say more than that they make up fortunes that hardly can he even estimated. One Indian ruler, the Maharaja of Petiola, is sometimes called “ The Prince of Pearls.” When he attends the meeting of the Cham her of Princes in Delhi, or when he ceremonial garb in honour of a new viceroy, he wears a breast ornament of a thousand pearls, valued at 3.000.000 dollars. Tt is the most gorgeous necklace the- modern world ever has seen. A guard of 1200 soldiers surround him when he travels with this great collection of jewels on him.