In 1912, labourers on a building site in Cheapside in the City of London unearthed a great trove of gemstones and jewels which had lain undisturbed for some three hundred years. Known and celebrated as the Cheapside Hoard, it is still the largest cache of its kind to have been discovered. These objects, dazzlingly beautiful, intricate and often astonishing, are evocative emissaries from London's past. The Cheapside Hoard remains the single most important source of our knowledge of the Elizabethan and early Stuart jewellers' trade and, by extension, life and fashion in London society of the era. London's Lost Jewels has been written to accompany a glittering new exhibition at the Museum of London, which marks the hundredth anniversary of the original public display and for the first time reveals the Cheapside Hoard in its entirety. It provides much new information about the city's role in the international gem and jewellery trade during one of the most dynamic periods of English history. A wealth of fascinating stories and lavish illustrations bring these exquisite treasures to life.
