Please smash all plaster cats... $500,000 in Korean Rubies

[RockRaven]

Did a quick search here and did not find this humorous story posted. Information from the book Hidden Treasure, Jeanne Horn, page 37, quote follows:

"Somewhere in the United States today there is a small, aged, clay cat carrying within its innards a fortune in royal rubies."

The backstory is that the rubies of a Korean idol became part of the jewels of the French court, they were stolen and placed inside the a clay cat in a ceramic factory in Germany. The thief was shot and never revealed the hiding place of the rubies, and the clay cat was shipped to the US and sold. Here is a link to a newpaper article with a little more information, the thief is identified as Klaus Gudden, and the story is that, pursued by police, he pushed the rubies into the body of a still soft plaster cat that later was sent to the US.

The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search

Personally, true or not, I find the story hilarious as well as the idea of smashing plaster cats.

Have fun!

 

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[57chevy]

I seem to remember a similar story out of England. It was just one large gem stone, don't remember the type, and the clay cat was a door stop. That lot was shipped all over the world.

 

[RockRaven]

Link to more story

131198

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

And the sales and prices of plaster cats on ebay soars to record highs ...

 

[RockRaven]

So here are a few more details. Klaus Gudden was being pursued by police, and stopped into a ceramics factory to inspect a freshly molded clay casting of a cat. He placed the rubies known as "The Eyes" into the fresh clay and marked an X on the bottom of the cat, instructing the owner to keep the cat for him until he returned to purchase it. German police knew he was in the area, and posted guards over the entire sector of the city. When he returned, he was shot, and no rubies were found. Years later a gemstone hunter named Graves picked up the trail by visiting every business he could find in the area and showing pictures of Gudden. The ceramic factory owner remembered him, and said that after a hanging onto the cat for a while he had shipped it to the US with 10,000 others to 30 different retail outlets. Graves went to America and used advertising and newspapers to try and find the cat, but never did.

The jewels have a long history dating back to 167 A.D. in Korea. Owned by a great eastern potentate, Loius XV's gift to Madame Pompadour, stolen many times, and probably pretty much priceless, they now lie inside of an 8 inch clay or plaster cat that was most likely sold as a doorstop or something similar. The cat is in a basking/sleeping position, with tail wrapped around its nose, most likely glazed. Although there is a good chance that this item may have made it into a landfill, if you find a sleeping cat, 8 inches, with an X on the bottom, maybe you can be the one that finds this ancient treasure.

St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search

 

[jeff of pa]

Murphy's law is most likely involved in this one.

My guess The cat was purchased by some cat Lover & placed in their housse.
at some point the House was destroyed by Fire, Tornado, Flood or Earthquake
and the Contents hauled of the the trash heap.

 

[RockRaven]

Here is a link to the original source material - sounds like the author, Ken Krippene, was more of a fiction writer, so sad, unless I can find further verification I will have to say that the whole story is completely false. Still going to try and track down the supposed gem hunter in question and see if there were ever any actual advertisements run searching for the cat, but this one will have to stay for right now in the realm of fiction.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/recommended-reading/348551-buried-treasure-ken-krippene.html

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

... and the bid retractions are now rampant

 

[RockRaven]

I still feel very strongly that clay cats should be smashed, just in case...

 

[jeff of pa]

I still feel very strongly that clay cats should be smashed, just in case...

That I do agree with.

Better check in those Ceramic ones Too . Even if they look & Feel Hollow

 

[grantler]

Hi RockRaven
Is it possible to print this Artikle from your first Link you postet(The Spokesman Review)
? I did try but with no success :-((
grantler

 

[RockRaven]

I think that what you need to do with those old archives that are larger than page size is something like a screen capture and save to a new file or import into some kind of graphics program of some type. Some of the other stories I have tried to track done from Ken Kripenne's book Buried Treasure appear to be quite real such as Bowie's Lost Mines, Oak Island, and Pancho Villa's lost loot, but I would not count on the Kripenne info to be accurate, some fiction or incorrect information also included. Still searching for actual historical record of the Ruby Eyes, Klaus Gudden, Graves the British gem hunter etc. All sources from the 50's and early 60's in newspaper and print have Kripenne's work as source material and are therefore suspicious or based on semi-fiction, I would love to see any sort of actual pre-fifties lead's on any of this one if for no other reason than seeing some clay kitties bite the dust in the spirit of TREASURE!

 

[doc-d]

This is reason enough to smash all ceramic and clay cats…….

 

[Crow]

Yeah doc conspiracy theory here. It was cat hater made up a story of diamonds in cats?

Strange enough I heard this story years ago when I was a Kid. yes old Crow was Kid once even if it was last century ago.

Crow

 

[doc-d]

And Senor Crow, the pirate in training, many years hence shall recall this story also…….hopefully destroying all ceramic and clay cats he encounters…...

 

[el padron]

And Senor Crow, the pirate in training, many years hence shall recall this story also…….hopefully destroying all ceramic and clay cats he encounters…...

The only problem with the story is that it makes no sense at all.
Nothing pertaining to a ceramic cat ever happened.

Where is the evidence that he placed the rubies up a ceramic cats B**?

Even the original narrative states that he never disclosed the location the stones were hidden.
Does it make any sense that as he is running from Police he actually has the good fortune of finding a lot of ceramics that have not yet set?

Would it be possible for him to have full access to unfinished plaster figures and the factory manager not suspecting something? Wouldn't he have found it unusual that from all the finished pieces of pottery that one was the one chosen to be set aside.?
Even after it had been tampered with and marked? (with an "x" no less)

It makes no sense at all.

If anything, he made a deal with the factory proprietor shortly before he was shot.

After the Police started to suspect him (as a consequence of the dead fugitives visit) he made up the story about the cat to throw them off the trail.
(" I don't have the stones, They were shipped to the US along with 10,000 other pieces of pottery.....).

 

[ECS]

I still feel very strongly that clay cats should be smashed, just in case...

I smashed a ceramic cat from China and all I found was white foot powder.

 

[Crow]

The only problem with the story is that it makes no sense at all.
Nothing pertaining to a ceramic cat ever happened.

Where is the evidence that he placed the rubies up a ceramic cats B**?

Even the original narrative states that he never disclosed the location the stones were hidden.
Does it make any sense that as he is running from Police he actually has the good fortune of finding a lot of ceramics that have not yet set?

Would it be possible for him to have full access to unfinished plaster figures and the factory manager not suspecting something? Wouldn't he have found it unusual that from all the finished pieces of pottery that one was the one chosen to be set aside.?
Even after it had been tampered with and marked? (with an "x" no less)

It makes no sense at all.

If anything, he made a deal with the factory proprietor shortly before he was shot.

After the Police started to suspect him (as a consequence of the dead fugitives visit) he made up the story about the cat to throw them off the trail.
(" I don't have the stones, They were shipped to the US along with 10,000 other pieces of pottery.....).

hello El Pardon

Personally I tend to think the story was one of those urban myths that has floated around for years. I remembers hearing it about as a kid. I heard a French version, but it was French Jewel thief. So perhaps it just one of those tales evolved from 19th century penny dredful novels around 1900.

Crow

 

[ivan salis]

just x ray them -- the stones will show up -- people in the old days used to smuggle gemstones inside of clay marbles as well..

 

[Crow]

Another thought we all could be victims of a very clever marketing ploy?

Psst want to buy a plaster cat?



Crow