PARADE OF JEWELS.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1419, 23 October 1923, Page 6

PARADE OF JEWELS.

TWO AND A HALF MILES OF GEMS Hundreds of thousands of people of all nationalities watched a wonderful procession of jewels and precious stones which wound its way through Antwerp. The procession which had been arranged by the Antwerp diamond industry to illustrate the history of diamonds, pearls, rubies and other jewels, was two and a half miles in length, and 2500 persons, in addition to horses, elephants and camels took part in it. The costumes worn were authentic, having been obtained from the countries concerned, such as Persia, India, China, Africa, Italy, and so on, and of the 66 groups in the procession 14 were huge ornamental cars, each resembling some historical episode of the world's jewel history. The chief figure was a woman, resplendent in jewels, holding a hornshaped receptacle, from which a dense shower of precious stones fell to her feet. A remarkable group was that of six Persians carrying the cloak of the Shah Madir, from which the precious stones sent out shafts of brilliant colours as they caught the sun. Elephants in gold and diamonds, Chinese with frightful dragons, delightful little Japanese girls. Arabs, Turks, Hindus—all found a place in some part, of the procession, which was witnessed by King Albert.