Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A 16th century Tudor silver vervel or hawking ring, the shield-shaped bezel finely engraved with a double headed eagle, displayed and crowned, (the arms of the Brograve family), the hoop engraved ‘io*brograve’ (John Brograve), length 9mm. £800-£1,000

This vervel was found at Widford in East Hertfordshire, circa 1990 and bears the arms of the Brograve family.

Sir John Brograve (1538-1613) was the son of Richard Brograve by his wife Joan Sares and resided in Braughing, Hertfordshire. Educated at Cambridge, in 1580 he was appointed Her Majesty’s attorney for the Duchy of Lancaster, a post he continued to hold under James I who appointed him a knight. He was Member of Parliament for Preston in 1586, 1597 and 1601, and for Boroughbridge in 1593, becoming one of the leading lawyers in the House. He was the author in 1576 of ‘Uses Concerning Jointures’, printed in 1648 as ‘Three Learned Readings made upon three very useful Statutes’. He died 11 September 1613 and was buried at Braughing beside his wife.