he
was accustomed, he could vary the color of the precious stones, thus
bringing them into harmony with that of the waistcoat he was wearing.
As there are two hundred and forty of these specially-cut stones, the
waistcoats must have represented the whole gamut of colors and shades.
A few of the stones are capped with a different gem. This collection
was presented to the Museum in January, 1873, by the late Samuel P.
Avery, Esq.
There
is also in the Museum a remarkable collection of rings begun in the
eighteenth century by a Viennese imperial and royal jeweller named
Turk, and continued by his grandson up to 1860. It was later acquired
by J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq. The settings of the seventy rings comprise
a variety of colored diamonds, as well as emeralds, sapphires, and a
number of uncommon stones.
