The Cheapside Treasure is a remarkable trove of jewelry dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It was discovered in 1912 when workers were digging in a basement at 30-32 Cheapside in London, near the corner from Friday Street. The workers unearthed a buried wooden box containing over 400 pieces of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewelry. This jewelry included a variety of items such as rings, brooches, chains, and other accessories, all adorned with brightly colored gemstones and enameled gold settings. Among the items were toads, cameos, scent bottles, fan holders, crystal mugs, and a salt cellar.
Most of the Cheapside Treasure is now housed in the Museum of London, while some pieces are preserved in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
It is believed that the location where the treasure was found once housed a Jacobean jeweler's workshop. The treasure is generally thought to have been the jeweler's working stock, hidden in a cellar during the English Civil War. During the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, Cheapside was a bustling shopping center in the City of London, home to various luxury goods stores, including many jewelers. The specific location, a row of houses on South Cheapside owned by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, was historically known as Goldsmith's Row. It served as a hub for the manufacture and sale of gold and jewelry in medieval London.
One theory proposed by Chris Lane suggests that the treasure may have been brought to England from the East Indies in 1631 by a Dutch jeweler named Gerald Polman. Polman passed away during the voyage, and his jewel chest was taken by Christopher Adams, an assistant carpenter on the ship. Adams eventually had to surrender the box and its contents to Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsay, who served as the treasurer of the East India Company. Lindsay became embroiled in a legal dispute with the Dutch heirs of Polman, but he perished in the Battle of Edgehill in 1642.
Goldsmith's Row was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666 but was later rebuilt in 1667 by the Goldsmiths' Company. The treasure was discovered by workers in the remains of the old basement beneath the building in 1912. Today, the site is part of a modern building.
The Cheapside Treasure provides a fascinating glimpse into the international trade in luxury goods during that era, featuring gemstones from various sources around the world, including South America, Asia, and Europe. These gems include emeralds from Colombia, topaz and amazonite from Brazil, spinel, iolite, and chrysoberyl from Sri Lanka, and many others. The treasure trove is a testament to the opulence and diversity of the jewelry trade during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
The Cheapside Treasure is a remarkable collection of jewelry dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, discovered in 1912 during excavation work in a basement at 30-32 Cheapside in London. This hidden trove consisted of over 400 pieces of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewelry, showcasing intricate designs, enameled gold settings, and colorful gemstones. Here are some key details about this fascinating treasure:
1. **Gemstone Bezels and Cuts:** Many of the jewelry pieces featured large gemstones set in bezels. Most of these gemstones were cabochon-cut, but some also had more modern faceted cuts, including the rose cut and star cut. Notably, a massive Colombian emerald, originally the size of an apple, had been hollowed out to house a Swiss watch movement, which is believed to date from around 1600 and was signed by J. Ferlitt.
2. **Unique Exhibits:** The Cheapside Treasure included several unique and exquisite exhibits, such as a Byzantine gemstone cameo, a cameo featuring Queen Elizabeth I, and an emerald parrot. Additionally, there were several fake carved and painted quartz gems among the collection.
3. **Dating of the Treasure:** The presence of a small red deep seal displaying the coat of arms of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, served as a crucial piece of evidence to date the burial of the treasure. It indicated that the treasure was buried between November 1640 when William Howard was elevated to the nobility and September 1666 when the Great Fire of London destroyed the buildings on Cheapside.
4. **Gold Purity:** Most of the gold items in the treasure were of the "Paris touch" standard, equivalent to 19.2 carats or 80% purity.
5. **Discovery and Ownership:** The workers who discovered the treasure initially sold the items to an antiques dealer and pawnshop owner known as "Stone Jack," whose real name was George Fabian Lawrence. Lawrence often paid workers in cash for interesting finds from London construction sites and was appointed by the Town Hall Museum to search for new objects for its collection. Later, he became the excavation inspector of the London Museum.
6. **Ownership and Acquisition:** The Goldsmiths' Company, to which the treasure might have historically belonged, did not confirm ownership of the finds. There was no inquest into the treasure. Funding to acquire most of the Cheapside Treasure for the London Museum came from Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt. Several items were sent to the British Museum and the Town Hall Museum, while one gold and enamel chain was purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
7. **Exhibitions:** The finds were exhibited at the London Museum in Kensington in 1914, garnering great acclaim. The collections of the Town Hall Museum and the London Museum merged to form the Museum of London in 1975. The entire hoard was displayed together for the first time in over a century at the Museum of London from October 2013 to April 2014.
The Cheapside Treasure provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of luxury jewelry and craftsmanship during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, as well as the historical context of its discovery and acquisition.
