Scrope
to her brother Robert Carey, as a signal that the queen was dead, so
that he might be the first to bear the news to her impatient successor,
James I, was exhibited in the great Loan Exhibition of Ancient and
Modern Jewellery shown at the South Kensington Museum in London, in
1872. As there shown, this historic sapphire was the central ornament
of a diamond star, or cinque-foil. The original ring was given to
John, Èarl of Orrery, by the Duchess of Buckingham, natural daughter
of James II, and the small brilliants surrounding it in its present
setting are the same as those which were about it in the ring.51
By
the terms of his will, dated December 18, 1630, Sir Edward Coke, of
Godwick, bequeathed among other jewels two of historic significance.
One of these was a ring "set with a great Turkey (turquoise), which
King Henry the Eighth used to wear, and was painted with it on his
forefinger." The other jewel, also a ring, is curiously suggestive when
we recall that an attempt (unsuccessful, of course) had been made to
poison the unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury with diamond dust, before
poison of a more effective sort was administered to him. Thé ring in
question is described here as set with "a Diamon cut with faucetts
(facets)" and the statement is added that it had been given to Sir
Edward by Anne of Denmark, Queen of James I, " for the discovery of the
poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury." B2
A
gold ring, said to have been one of five such rings given by Charles I
to Bishop Juxon, on the scaffold, just before the king's execution, was
shown in the Loan
61 Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition of Ancient and Modern Jewellery and Personal Ornaments, 1872, London, 1873, p. 33, No. 137.
52 Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report of MSS. in various collections, vol. iv, Dublin, 1907, p. 323.
