A CALIFORNIAN CURIOSITY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3252, 24 June 1911, Page 3

A CALIFORNIAN CURIOSITY.

VALUABLE GOLD BING

One of the most valued treasures of the descendants of Franklin Pearce, an early president of the United States, is a ring which was presented to him during the gold rage by his friends in California. This curious relic is made of gold dug from a Californian mine. It weighs nearly a- pound, and is valued at 20000 dollars. The ring is a pictorial representation of California s history _ a . museum filled with specimens of Californian ore. Its seal is a deeplycarved plate of gold, with the arms of California -engraved. This is surmounted by the American flag, and inscribed “(Frank Pearce” in old' Roman characters. There is a lid, which opens with a hinge, and shows beneath a square box -divided by bars of gold into nine separate compartments. Each of these contain a cure specimen of the several varieties or ore to he found in the State. . Inside appears the inscription : “Presented to Franklin Pearce, the fourteenth President of the United States.” The circular portion of the ring is cut into squares, which stand at right angles to each other. Each square is embellished wi.tli an odd design the entire group forming a pictorial history of the State. There is a grizzly hear ill a menacing attitude, a deer bounding down a slope, an enraged snake, a- soaring eagle, and a salmon. Next peeps out an Indian with how and arrow, and then a native mountaineer on horseback throwing his lasso. The last scene of all-, which completes the circle and ends the history, is a Californian tent and a miner at work with his pick. Each of these designs is surmounted by two little American flags. The poles are crossed, and groups of stars fill the angles. For wealth of pictorial display this ring has no equal in the world.