HALF A MILLION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19867, 15 June 1927, Page 3

HALF A MILLION

POCKETS FULL OF JEWELS MAN RUNS SHORT OF FOOD When Air. Ganeshi Lail, the millionaire Indian jeweller and art connoisseur, dined in the Savoy Hotel restaurant at London last month, he had about a quarter of a million pounds’ worth of jewels hidden away in cunningly-con-cealed pockets in his dinner-suit. One pocket was reserved for his revolver. The other half of his famous collection was being watched over by his three stalwart and faithful Indian guards in his suite upstairs. They carry no revolvers. They are more expert with the dagger. Afr. Lail ate but a frugal dinner. He takes no meat, and the rules of lus caste permit him little of the food ho can obtain here. He brought from India sufficient provisions to last seven months, but ho was persuaded to stay in America longer than that and his provisions have run out. Tie went to America to exhibit his collection at tho Philadelphia Sesquic.entennial Exhibition, and now be has come to England, for the first time, to show it to collectors who may be interested. £60,000 Emerald, When a newspaper reporter asked him, after dinner last night to produce his famous carved emerald, he dived into a pocket and brought out a little tissue paper packet, unfolded it, and handed over, without any ado, an exquisitely carved emerald, flat, and the size of a penny. For this he had re-fused-an American’s offer nf £60,000. °lt was valued no higher than that.

over there,” he explained, “because, not being cut, it does not dazzle. American women must have jewels that dazzle. But I value it more highly, because it had the honour of saving Shah Jehan’s eyesight. And Mr. Lail told the story of how the builder of Taj Mahal, imprisoned by his son in an all-white mosque, which in course of time was to send him blind, and given a choice of gift--., chose an emerald, that he might gaze upon it when his eyes grow tired of the glare of white walls. When tho old man died, ho still had his sight. He had made beautiful carvings on the jewel. Precious Air Cargo. Ono of the treasures Mr. Lail had promised to show was not there. “I am sorry,” ho said, “hut an art connoisseur in Germany asked to sec the emerald necklace, and so, secretly, it travelled in the pocket of a faithful messenger, by air to a certain town in Germany. It is worth about £85,000. Of course, no one travelling on that liner was awaro of its presence.” He had with him, however, the Imperial ruby necklace, stamped with the Mogul seal, the only one extant; and one of the few perfect pearls, weighing 38 grains, and centuries old: a pearl necklace, most perfectly matched, worth, he said, about £110,000; and tho finest sapphire in the world, worth £12,000. Many Indian art treasures he ha? brought, too, and an autograph album containing 85,000 autographs, collected by himself, his father and his grand father before him.