ITALY: Lost & Found

Hoarse-voiced King Zog of Albania five months ago requested a swank Paris jeweler to send him some $600,000 worth of precious gems on approval so he could select a few stones for his Queen-to-be, impoverished, half-American, 22-year-old Countess Geraldine Apponyi of Hungary. Albania's fierce, feuding tribesmen were not surprised. Wily Zog, a onetime clan chieftain of fine old farming ancestry, has always done his business on the approval basis. He shopped for a bride in the same way. At least one European lady of title, suitable and willing to become Zog's Queen, made the arduous, chaperoned journey to Tirana, Albania's odorous, backward little capital, to seek the King's approval before he settled on the Countess Apponyi.

From the $600,000 collection brought by courier, Zog chose a diamond tiara, a bracelet, brooch and two rings. The courier and his jewel box then boarded a Rome-bound Ala Littoria (Italian) airliner for his journey to Paris. After crossing the Apennines, the liner plunged into fog, suddenly smashed into the slope of Mt. Altino near Formia. The jewel box hurtled clear, burst open and spread the gems over the ground. Startled shepherds clambered to the plane, found it a blazing wreck, with the 19 passengers and crew dead. They pocketed as many of the bright stones as they could and when the police arrived at the remote scene only $52,625 worth remained. The rest, they assumed, might have been destroyed in the fire.

Few weeks ago the police of Naples heard tales of magnificent jewels being offered for fantastically low prices. They investigated and last week swooped down and arrested two men. Before the policemen's popping eyes, the men uncovered a cache containing nearly $500,000 worth of jewels, which they admitted belonged to the lost collection. They had bought the lot from Mt. Altino's simple-minded shepherds for $158.