Not since the Crown diamonds were sold in 1887 has the State reaped such a*harvest from the disposal of portable property as from the pearl necklace and other jewellery once owned _by Mme. Thiers, wife of the first} President of the Third Republic. She left her surviving sister, Mile. Dosne, a life interest in this jewellery, directing that, after her sister died, it should go to the Louvre. Mme. Thiers no. doubt thought her necklace too: rare and wonderful to be worn by any private individual, and this. view was accepted until after the Jewellery had been on view in the Louvre for many years. When, after the war, money was badly. needed, it occurred to somebody that, a5 the jewellery had neither nor "archwological value, might as "well be converted into cash. After long negotiations with the family, an agreement was reached, whereby part of the proceeds of the eventual sale were to go to a charitable institution founded and endowed by Mile. Dosne and called after her, and the rest to the fund out. of which the art collections in the national museums are enriched. from time to time. This agreoment was embodied in a special Act of Parliament, and the sal by public auction," took place thi week in one of the big sculpture galleries on the ground floor of the Louvre. The necklace, consisting of three rows of large pearls, which cost £9,500 (having been bought long before pearls, came into fashion) was knocked down at Frs. 11,280,000, Adding. fees and taxes, the total cost: to the buyer was Frs. 12,802,800, which, at the prevailing rate' of Pri: exchange, works out at £164,140. 'The necklace was bought by a well-known firm of Rue de la Paix'
Jewellers, who, shortly place it on view in their premises.~
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.