Jewellery, Watches, Antiquities and Objects of Vertu

A Tudor diamond and enamel heart ring, 16th century, the heart-shaped bezel set with a triangular chiffre-cut diamond, with traces of turquoise blue enamel to the sides and back of the bezel, the slightly tapered shoulders and shank textured for enamel (now lacking), ring size approximately J. £1,600-£2,000

This ring was discovered near Windsor and is recorded on the PAS database, ref: BERK-5DFCB3.

The ring was found on farmland approximately 1km from an area known as the Hockett on the edge of what is now Cookham Rise; the land all around is still wooded and is known as High Wood and Inkydown Wood. By local repute there was a Tudor hunting lodge of Henry VIII at Hockett.

Herbert Tillander notes “The shape of the crystal system into which diamonds belong have most of their octahedral faces slightly raised, in curved triangular form, and can easily be fashioned into chiffres, after an initial cleaving operation. This type of three facetted shield-shaped diamond has been known at least since the early 14th century....It is termed the Chiffre cut after the word ‘Cipher’, the arithmetical symbol for nought”.

See: Tillander, H., Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewellery, Art Books International, 1995, p46.