We do know that what was left of the French Crown jewels after the looting of the royal treasury in 1792 was auctioned off by the government of the French Third Republic from May 12 to May 23, 1887. The sales were attended by representatives of many of the royal houses then in existence, as well as famous jewelers from throughout the world. Including Tiffany.
Many of the jewels that had been stolen during the Revolution had been recovered over the years since Madame La Guillotine reigned, although some of the most famous among them had disappeared. For readers who are interested in a description of what was auctioned, and especially the Tiffany purchases, there are many articles available on the Internet, including some that contain citations from the sales catalogue. The pictures of individual pieces are breathtaking, as is the mental image of handfuls of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and pearls spilling through the fingers of the successful buyers.
The Keeley Institute was established in Dwight, Illinois, in 1879 by Dr. Leslie E. Keeley, a former Union Army surgeon who believed that alcoholism was a disease that could be cured. Specifically, that he alone possessed the secret recipe whose ingredients would eradicate an individual’s addiction to both alcohol and opium, including laudanum. Patients agreed to a four- to six-week stay at the institute he founded, lining up four times daily to receive injections of what Keeley claimed to be bichloride of gold. The treatment could only be obtained through residency at the institute, where patients also followed a prescribed regimen of exercise and healthy diet, including a tonic that had to be drunk every few hours throughout the day. The tonic was more than 25 percent alcohol and the injections contained atropine, boric acid, strychnine, and other dubious ingredients—but no bichloride of gold.
Despite skepticism and opposition by many in the medical field, Keeley’s Gold Cure was immensely popular, especially in the 1890s, not least because patients were lodged in the pleasant, relaxed surroundings of local hotels and boardinghouses where they were made to feel comfortable and always reassured that freedom from addiction was not only possible, but well within their grasp. Women who took the Gold Cure were not required to line up to receive their injections; they were treated in the privacy of their rooms. At the height of its popularity, the Keeley Institute numbered more than two hundred branch clinics and had treated hundreds of thousands of patients. Those who relapsed into alcohol or opium addiction were considered to have been cured at one time, their regression a matter of individual choice.
As always, thanks go to my editor, John Scognamiglio, and to my literary agent, Jessica Faust. Their belief in my writing and commitment to the stories I spin is a constant source of encouragement.
My Tuesday morning critique group knows how much I value their input. They keep the intrigue moving in the right direction and always let me know when a character tries to step outside his purview.
And last but never least, it would be much harder to do this without the support of my husband, who never interrupts me when the Joker is face up on the piano.
Death, Diamonds, and Deception Page 31