Move aside Treasure Island, London’s Cheapside Hoard is a real and immensely valuable collection that has all the makings of a classic treasure hunting story – intrigue, deception, cool nicknames, a mysterious society, historic significance and a surprising find of glittering jewels…
We've starred One New Change, where the Cheapside Hoard was found, on our interactive Friday Fun Fact map: Google My Maps.
On a busy street off Cheapside, you’ll find One New Change, a fantastic shopping centre right across from St Paul’s Cathedral. There have been quite a few commercial buildings put up and torn down on this plot. Our story begins with a 17th century building that once stood here, which belonged to the Worshipful Society of Goldsmiths (formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London). Okay, maybe this society is not so enigmatic – it is the royally chartered society that hallmarks gold and silver pieces to protect legitimacy in the trade – but it sounds mysterious.
In 1912, workers were demolishing the building to make way for the next commercial enterprise. The building stood atop a brick cellar that was much older. They were steadily chipping away with pickaxes when a glittering ball of mud and decaying wood caught their attention. Pulling apart the mass, they found glittering jewels, toadstones and tongue-stones (assumed to be a tongue of a dragon, which nobility wore to harness the power of a dragon), pendants and amulets, Byzantine cameos, gold necklaces, broaches and an astonishing range of precious stones. There were over 500 pieces were found.
It’s believed that a jeweller buried a wood chest full of inventory to protect it at the start of the civil war, around the 1640s. After the London Fire in 1666, a new building was erected, which covered up the hoard. The Cheapside Hoard the greatest collection of Elizabethan, Tudor and Jacobian jewellery in the world, the largest of its kind and in the best condition. The Museum of London is working up a new exhibition for this collection, which should be unveiled in 2024.
The ballad of Stoney Jack
Stoney Jack was a trader with vision. In a time where a leather Roman sandal or medieval pottery wasn’t protected or preserved, he found a way to make archaeology important in London – one of the most important places to care about archaeological finds. You see, London’s clay is an incredible preserver, and with the city’s ancient history, there is a lot we can learn about the past here.
Stoney Jack made friends with labourers in the area, taught rudimentary archaeology in alehouses and built his reputation on trading the artefacts they found on worksites to the Museum of London with at the very least a pint of beer for every find that was brought to him. He is said to be responsible for over 15 thousand artefacts in museums, and everything museums didn’t want, he sold in the most fascinating little pawnshop in London.
Just another example of London’s international prowess
This is the best kind of treasure trove. Not only is the Cheapside Hoard worth a fortune, but its historical significance is immeasurable. It is the greatest find for understanding London’s place in international trade prior to the Great Fire. Elizabethan gems and jewellery of exceptional value from all over the world – Indian diamonds, Bahraini pearls, ancient artefacts from Egypt, Peruvian gemstones, Chinese jade, a swiss watch set in a Colombian emerald the size of a small apple that demonstrated a skill in watchmaking that still baffles experts...
What’s buried treasure without a bit of intrigue?
The collection itself is absolutely true, and through decades of expert scrutiny, most of the pieces have been proven genuine. However, there’s also a bit of theory, which may not be true, but it makes for an exciting tale.
Gerard Polman/Gerrard Pullman was an incredibly wealthy Dutch trader travelling back from Persia on the ship Discovery. He was supposedly poisoned by the ship’s doctor and the crew divided his wares. The Dutch East India Company sued the ship’s carpenter, who was found living high after the journey and selling off remarkable gems in taverns across London. They continued to try and retrieve Pullman’s wares which were steadily changing hands across the city (read more from the collection's curator).
The theory goes that the Cheapside Hoard is just a fraction of the Pullman Hoard, which the Worshipful Society of Goldsmiths may have been seeking out and collecting. When the employees of the society got caught up in the civil war, they might have stashed it in the basement to hide it from the Dutch East India Company until they could claim the whole collection properly.
Learn more from the podcast: Omnibus Episode 402: Cheapside Hoard (entry 210.MT0620) or the book Lost Britain by David Long, The Smithsonian, Archaeology Travel and GIA.
