The Enigmatic Tale of Britain's Most Mysterious Historic Artefacts
Historians have painstakingly reconstructed the extraordinary story of two of British history's most enigmatic artefacts: a pair of spectacular diamond-and-ruby-encrusted gold and jade daggers. This investigation represents one of the most detailed historical artefact biographies ever compiled in the United Kingdom, revealing a narrative that spans continents and centuries.
A Global Network of Materials and Craftsmanship
The weapons, now the subject of a remarkable exhibition at Strawberry Hill House on the banks of the Thames in Twickenham, West London, were created from materials sourced across multiple forgotten empires. Investigators believe the daggers were fashioned in the Middle East over four centuries ago, incorporating raw materials from distant kingdoms.
The nephrite jade used for the hilts and scabbards almost certainly originated from the vast Central Asian Silk Road empire known as the Khanate of Yarkent. This territory, ruled by descendants of Genghis Khan, was comparable in size to modern India.
Many of the diamonds adorning the jade components are thought to have come from the powerful Sultanate of Golconda in eastern India, approximately the size of England and ruled by sultans descended from medieval Persian rulers. Some diamonds may have originated as far east as Borneo, then part of the extensive Bruneian empire.
The rubies almost certainly came from the Toungoo Empire in Southeast Asia, covering 600,000 square miles and representing the largest empire in Southeast Asian history. This vanished mega-state, encompassing modern Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and parts of India and China, was the medieval world's greatest source of rubies.
The gold likely originated from Southeast Asia as well, with some used to adorn the daggers with short Ottoman and Persian poems glorifying the weapons. Although the materials represented a global trade network, the daggers themselves were probably partly made in 16th century Persia before being exported to Ottoman rulers in Constantinople for further enhancement.
A Diplomatic Journey Across Europe
Investigators working with Strawberry Hill House have reconstructed how these jewel-encrusted weapons travelled from Constantinople to England. One leading theory suggests they were given by Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I as a diplomatic gift to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II in Prague, possibly as part of a 1606 peace treaty ending a bitter thirteen-year war between the empires.
Thirty years later, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II appears to have presented them to Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, one of King Charles I's top diplomats and an ultra-wealthy English aristocrat and art collector. Thomas's heirs passed the weapons to other art-collecting aristocrats: English philanthropist Elizabeth Germain and nobleman Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, after whom London's Oxford Street is named.
From Aristocratic Collection to Theatrical Prop
In the 1770s, British prime minister's son and art enthusiast Horace Walpole purchased the dagger from Germain's collection and exhibited it in his beautiful Thames-side home, Strawberry Hill. The weapon's purpose transformed dramatically in 1842 when Victorian England's top Shakespearean actor, Charles Kean, bought the glittering gem-studded dagger and used it as a theatrical prop.
This usage was partly inspired by the erroneous tradition that the weapon had originally belonged to England's most famous Tudor king, Henry VIII. Years after Kean's death, his daughter sold the dagger at auction in the 1890s to American multi-millionaire Waldorf Astor, who installed it in his newly-acquired English stately home, Hever Castle in Kent.
The Daring Heist and Modern Appeal
Hever Castle became the dagger's last known home before it was stolen in a daring 1946 heist, widely believed to have been committed by another aristocrat, Victor Hervey, Marquess of Bristol. This Eton-educated convicted criminal, known as the Pink Panther, led a jewellery-stealing gang called the "Mayfair Playboys."
Art crime experts suspect the historic jewel-encrusted jade and gold weapon may have ended up in a private collection in the United States, though its exact whereabouts remain unknown. Strawberry Hill House, where the current exhibition about the weapons is being held, is now appealing to art collectors and others worldwide for information about the fate or location of the vanished dagger.
The fate of the two daggers diverged dramatically. The twin dagger, acquired by Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford in the early 18th century, remains normally housed at his stately home, Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, though it is currently displayed in the Strawberry Hill exhibition. However, its probable diamonds and rubies were replaced at some stage by less valuable garnets.
The search continues for the stolen Walpole dagger and scabbard, which retained all their rubies and diamonds, including some relatively large stones, when stolen from Hever Castle in 1946. "We now hope that our appeal for information about the stolen dagger will yield details about its history since 1946 and its current whereabouts," said Strawberry Hill's Senior Curator, Dr Silvia Davoli, who led the investigation into both daggers' extraordinary history.
The Strawberry Hill exhibition, Henry VIII's Lost Dagger: From the Tudor Court to the Victorian Stage, continues until Sunday, 15 February, offering visitors a unique glimpse into this remarkable archaeological mystery.
