THE HAPSBURG JEWELS

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17804, 31 August 1929, Page 14 (Supplement)

THE HAPSBURG JEWELS

JWYSTERY OF A PEARL DIADEM. (From a Correspondent.) VIENNA, June 12. The fate of the Habsburg .jewels seems to be as provocative a subject for gossip as the death of the Archduke Rudolph or the tragedy of the Russian Tsarist family. From time to time reports appear in the Austrian and foreign Press to the effect that pieces from the Habsburg private collection have been traced and recovered. The very latest story concerns a diadem of black pearls, once said to have formed part of this collection, and recently stolen from an Italian subject in Morocco. Following on this report, the Vienna Press has published a long article on fhe fate of Ihc collection since 1918, whicii is written by a man who was a personal attendant and close friend of (he late Emperor Karl, and in which il is expressly denied that the diadem mentioned above ever formed part of the collection. According to this wriler, until the autumn of 1918 the private and family jewels of the Emperor Karl and the Empress Zita remained in Ihc Ilofburg, Vienna, which was Ihe Imperial residence. At the end of October, however, when things were beginning lo get unsettled in the capilal and there \verc fears of a spread of BolsevisV. through tins Slak\ a number of loyal Monarchists net together in the Belvedere Palace under ihe presidency of the Archduke Max, to consider ways and means of protecting the Imperial family and its possessions.

No Luck to the Thieves. The Emperor and his family removed to Schronbrunn on October 31, and the private jewels and securities were ordered to be sent by three trustworthy servants to Switzerland. Two of these latter succeeded in crossing the frontier before the Austrian Republic was proclaimed, and when the Emperor himself was banished to the same country, he found his treasures —pearls, necklaces, rings, etc.—safely deposited in a Bern bank. When the Emperor and Empress later fled to Hungary, after the attempt at restoration of the monarchy in Austria, most of the collection was lost through the dishonesty of the wife of one of the Emperor’s servants. But this action brought no luck to the thieves, for the money received was given into the charge of a woman confederate, who squandered if'on.the Riviera during the following months. The Ilabsburg crown jewels, as distinguished from the family’s private properl.ly and many other valuables, are still on view in the llofburg in Ihis city, among lliem being included the famous “ gicstliche Schatzkamrner ” (ecclesiastical collection), . . . But as for the black pearl diadem, it is emphatically stated that there never was such a jewel in the Ilabsburg collection!