Hobbyist finds pendant linked to Henry VIII

Charlie Clarke, a 34-year-old cafe owner in Birmingham, England, was feeling down about losing his dog to cancer, so he went to a friend’s place in the countryside to take a stroll and get some fresh air. He brought his metal detector with him, gear for the new hobby he had picked up six months earlier.

When he heard the unusually loud beeps emitted while he walked on his friend’s property in nearby Warwickshire, he thought he had probably come across a soda can. Instead, about a foot down into the Earth, he happened upon a treasure that has electrified researchers.

Clarke pulled up a gold chain and heart-shaped pendant adorned with symbols his friend recognized as connected to Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. He thought it must have been from a costume, but it seemed far too heavy for that, he said Friday.

“I knew it was special,” he said.

The pendant is an ornate spectacle: The front is decorated with a pomegranate bush, an emblem of Katherine, and an entwined, double-headed Tudor rose, which was employed by the Tudors starting in 1486. On the other side, the letters H and K — for Henry and Katherine — are written in Lombardic script and connected by a ribbon.

By law, those who find treasure in Britain are required to report their finds, allowing museums the chance to acquire them, paying a fee that is split evenly between the finder and the landowner.

After finding the pendant in 2019, Clarke first brought it to an expert in Birmingham, who he recalled was “shaking when she held it; her jaw was on the floor.”

It was sent to the British Museum, where researchers were similarly agog.

“We all thought: My goodness, is this for real? Could this possibly be?” Rachel King, curator of Renaissance Europe for the British Museum, said Friday.

Researchers have confirmed the pendant’s authenticity, placing it at about 500 years old, but those who have examined it are left to speculate on the story behind it. It appeared to be hastily crafted, seemingly built more to be seen than to endure, King said.