Wednesday 30 April 2025

LAHS Acquisition Fund Grant for the Grimston Pendant

This grant has helped secure the purchase of this important artefact by Leicestershire County Council Museums.

17th Century Pendant, discovered by a metal detectorist in Grimston in 2021 © Derby Museums Trust. Reproduced under Creative Commons Licence CC BY 4.0 https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1023803

LAHS is pleased to announce the recent funding in partnership with the Arts Council England/V&A of the purchase of a rare 17th Century jewelled pendant by Leicestershire County Museums, which will go on display at the Melton Carnegie Museum. This rare item was found by a metal detectorist in Grimston, Melton Borough in 2021. It was declared treasure by the British Museum under the Treasure Act 1996 and offered for purchase.

Dating to the first quarter of the 17th century, it shows the wealth of some of the people who lived or passed through the Melton district in this period. The pendant is made of gold and has a deep blue sapphire at its centre, surrounded by six rectangular table-cut quartz stones. Between each quartz is a small gold fleur de lis, two of which still show traces of white enamel. The fleur de lis may have originally held seed pearls. The sapphire is broken and there is a slightly crude washer on its back which suggests that originally there may have been a different gem in its place. The back of the pendant is beautifully detailed with green and white enamel. The pendant could have possibly been suspended on an attifet, a heart-shaped headdress with a point that dips over the forehead, worn by European women in the 16th and 17th centuries. It gives a tantalising glimpse of the riches that some local families were lucky enough to enjoy in the early 1600s in Leicestershire. Further information about the pendant can be found here.

It is currently displayed in the temporary exhibition ‘Villiers Revealed - Darling of the Stuart Court’ at Melton Carnegie Museum, Melton Mowbray, alongside a portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. He rose to fame during the early 17th century, the same time period as the most likely date of the pendant. Although there is no direct connection to George Villiers or his family, it is the type of jewellery that would have been owned and worn by people in his circle. When this exhibition ends on 28 June, the pendant will find a permanent home in the Museum’s Melton Lives Gallery.

If you feel your Society or project could benefit from the Acquisition Fund, please get in touch!