Lost Jewels: The Cheapside Hoard Together Again!

Photo of the hoard, Museum of London image.

My heart sort of jumped at the thought of it when I heard the news. It took me back to why I had studied anthropology, my time on a few digs, and my lust for the history of fashion/jewelry. What these material items tell us about the cultures who created them. Most of my digs involved tiny scraping utensils, heat, dirt, bones, flint etc.  Never an emerald watch the size of a small apple. In archaeology there is a sort of joke that some of the greatest finds weren't found by archaeologists at all. It the single  most important reference point for the study of adornment during this time period. The Cheapside Hoard, the largest grouping of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewelry ever found. 

Jewelled scented bottle of white enamel and gold: 16th - 17th century

                 Jewelled scented bottle of white enamel and gold: 16th - 17th century

 For the first time ever they are on display together at the museum of London until April 27th. These stunning pieces were someone's cache, hidden for all of those years- until workmen in 1912 stubbled upon them while digging. Called that after the location in London, Cheapside. This was a road and area where poets, playwrights, and the market was located.  The jewels are sort of a mysterious bunch, no one really knows their origins.  The over 500 pieces of jewelry and gemstones upon discovery where offered to a pawn broker. However; he often sold to museums and thus contacted a trustee of the Museum of London.

Cover of Hazel's book. Preorder here.

That said where and why? Some are theorizing it had to due with civil upheaval in England at the time. It is possible a fire in London during the 1600s buried them in the "Goldsmith's Row"- this discussed and researched by the curator Hazel Forsyth. She has also written a book on it for the exhibit in which she seems to have traced some pieces back to a gem dealer who paid the East India company for safe passage. Let's just say he didn't make it but his treasure did.  What is also so interesting as well is that there are even older items among the bung- some dating into the Byzantium. One great find a cameo with a likeness of Cleopatra. Book me a flight, my bags are packed!