COLLECTIONS OF PRECIOUS STONES. S3
hundred gems inscribed with the real names of the artists who
engraved them. Many antiques — so called — have the names
of ancient engravers added by a modern hand, with the view of
enhancing their value. Probably the greatest forgeries of
precious stones ever known were the Poniatowsky gems, all
of which bear the name of some celebrated artist of antiquity
— Pyrgoteles, Dioscorides, Solon, and others. These stones
were engraved by the best modern artists of Rome, for Prince
Poniatowsky, one of the members of the Polish family of that
name, who died in Florence, in 1833.
The engravings are masterpieces, says this connoisseur, and,
had the engravers affixed their own names, the gems would
have increased in value with every succeeding age ; whereas
now they are regarded as comparatively worthless, and are
sold merely for their gold mountings. At a sale of one hundred and fifty-four of these specimens, they brought only from
twenty-five to thirty shillings apiece, though cut in the finest
amethyst and sard, and set in splendid gold frames, of very
elaborate design. Prince Poniatowsky inherited a valuable collection of genuine antiques from his uncle, Stanislaus, the last
King of Poland, including some very celebrated intagli and
carnei, which renders it all the more surprising that he should
have ordered one of counterfeits.
Russia. — Some of the finest and largest collections of gems
in the world are probably found in the dominion of the Czar.
They comprise more than ten thousand specimens, of which
carnei are the most numerous class, Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek,
and modern works, many of them cut in rare materials, and
inscriptions in the Coptic, Persian, and Turkish languages.
The Museum of the Hermitage comprises many of the choicest
specimens of some of the most celebrated cabinets formerly
existing in Europe, including the Orleans, Strozzi, and others.
