IMITATION JEWELS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 460, 29 December 1930, Page 9

IMITATION JEWELS

WOMEN DEFEAT BURGLARS. REAL ARTICLES STORED. There have been so many jewel robberies by motor bandits and burglars during recent months that many women now prefer to keep their treasures in a safe deposit rather than in their own homes. More than a dozen instances of these precautionary measures have comei to the notice of the Daily Telegraph. A woman -who possesses one of the choicest collection of gems in England stated recently that in her own home she .never wore a single article of jewellery. “All my jewels,” she said, “are stored in a safe deposit, and it is only on rare and special occasions that I take any of them out. “As a rule, I wear what I call my ‘safety first’ jewels when I go out. They consist of imitation pearls and diamonds, and the whole lot cost only a few pounds. Several other women I know adopt similar tactics. “Burglars who imagined they were going to make a fine haul broke into my house recently, and, after ransacking my rooms, all they could find were a few cheap trinkets.” Mrs Gasque, whose house at Hamp stead was the scene of a burglary on November 2, escaped n heavy loss because her jewels were “not at home.” It was reported on November 5 that the Hon. Mrs Lionel Guest’s house in Stanhope Place, Mayfair, had been broken into, but as most of her jewels were in a safe deposit, the thieves went away disappointed. “They took a beautiful amethyst necklace of considerable sentimental value,’’ said Mrs Guest. “The necklace belonged to my grandmother, and was also worn by my mother, and attached to it was an amethyst and diamond cross, which my husband gave me when he left for the front at the beginning of the war. “It has an untold value to me, and I have a feeling that it will be returned to me.” ’ Jewellery valued at £4OOO was stolen, it was stated, from a flat in Hallam Street, Portland Place, while its occupant, Mr Roy Lewis, was absent, on November 2. A number of diamond bracelets, several rings, cuff-links and tie pins were among the articles taken.