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| From the Cheapside Hoard: The Stafford Intaglio |
The hoard was uncovered in London in 1912, when a construction worker tearing up a floor with a pickaxe broke through to a stone-lined sub-basement. There he found a wooden box containing "the world’s largest collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewels," according to the October 12, 2013 issue of The Economist (link below).
Why were over 400 pieces of jewelry buried in the basement? The accepted explanation is that this was once the cellar of a jeweller's shop. In the 1600s, the street was known as Goldsmith's Row.
If you believe the Wikipedia article (link below), the hoard was buried sometime in the period 1640 to 1666. England's Civil War was raging during that period. That suggests the jewels were hidden to protect them from anti-monarchists or civil disturbances. Perhaps nobility left them with the jeweler for safekeeping. But why didn't the owners return to reclaim their jewelry when the war was over?
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| Ali Baba by Maxfield Parrish (1909) |
There's a potent analogy here, for those who care to see it: that of hidden mysteries. Finding an underground chamber filled with buried treasure is symbolic of self-discovery, as noted in this earlier post on Joseph Campbell: Aladdin's Cave.
The Cheapside Hoard is on display at the Museum of London through April 2014.
Links:
- The Economist: Cheapside Hoard: A trove of historic jewellery goes on show a century after it was discovered, October 12, 2013
- Museum of London: The Cheapside Hoard: London's Lost Jewels
- Wikepedia: The Cheapside Hoard
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