A remarkable artifact bearing physical witness to centuries of love, faith, and hidden history has made a triumphant return to the public eye, captivating collectors and historians alike. A silver locket crafted in the turbulent year of 1660 to commemorate the marriage of a prominent Catholic landowning couple in County Cork, Ireland, recently crossed the auction block at Roseberys in London. The piece, which had been lost to time for centuries before its accidental rediscovery by a farm laborer in the Victorian era, shattered its pre-sale expectations, realizing a final price of \u00a38,528 against a modest estimate of \u00a33,000 to \u00a35,000. <\/p>\n
The intricately designed, oval-shaped silver locket tells a deeply personal story of devotion rooted in a complex historical landscape. It was originally fashioned in 1660 to celebrate the union of Robert Coppinger and his bride, Margarett Coppinger, whose maiden name was Roche. Both individuals belonged to established Catholic landowning families in County Cork, a region that witnessed immense political and religious shifting during the mid-17th century. The exterior of the locket is richly decorated with detailed religious iconography, featuring an exquisite engraving of the Nativity on the front cover. On the reverse side, the craftsmanship continues with a depiction of the Adoration of the Magi, accompanied by the clear, enduring inscription reading "ROBT COPPINGER & MARGARETT COPPINGER als. ROCHE."<\/p>\n
The ornamentation of the piece, however, extends far beyond its exterior engravings. Upon opening the silver casing, historical treasures are revealed, including an engraving of the Crucifixion and a remarkably preserved gold 2 doppia coin struck in 1619. Minted in the Italian territories of Parma and Piacenza during the reign of Duke Ranuccio I Farnese, the gold coin was carefully placed inside the locket as part of its permanent assembly. According to insights shared by the specialists at Roseberys in their official press release, the inclusion of such a high-value foreign coin would have carried a profound, special resonance for a Catholic landowning family during that specific era. <\/p>\n
During the 17th century, high-value currency like the doppia often functioned beyond simple monetary exchange, frequently being carried directly by affluent Europeans as portable jewelry or status symbols. Doppias circulated widely as trade gold, representing substantial wealth and international connectivity. For Robert and Margarett Coppinger, encasing the 1619-struck Italian coin within their wedding token represented not only material prosperity but perhaps also a subtle nod to broader European ties and enduring faith during a time of domestic uncertainty for Catholics in Ireland.<\/p>\n
While the exact circumstances surrounding how the locket was ultimately lost remain shrouded in mystery, the story of its recovery reads like a chapter from an adventure novel. It remained missing for generations until around 1850, when a farm laborer working the land stumbled upon the silver keepsake buried deep beneath the historic castle of Mashanaglass in County Cork. The earth had claimed the locket for nearly two centuries, leaving it marked by the passage of time and the harsh realities of agricultural labor. <\/p>\n
Upon its unearthing, the laborer brought the damaged silver object to the rector of the local parish. Recognizing its historical and sentimental importance, steps were taken to restore the artifact before it was rightfully handed over to a descendant of the Coppinger family. Anna Evans, Head of Works of Art at Roseberys, reflected on the extraordinary survival of the piece and its deep connection to the past. She noted that very few material objects manage to survive across the centuries with such a vivid, tangible sense of the specific people and geographic place to which they originally belonged.<\/p>\n
When the extraordinary marriage token finally reached the auction floor at Roseberys for their Fine & Decorative auction on October 1, it arrived accompanied by a fascinating archive of historical documentation that validated its incredible journey. The locket was sold alongside a rare copy of The Cork Historical and Archaeological Society Journal dating back to 1895, which had published a contemporary report detailing the initial discovery of the artifact near Mashanaglass. Furthermore, the lot included a handwritten letter dated 1892 from the Keeper of Coins at the British Museum, who had officially examined and identified the Italian gold coin inside the locket over a century ago.<\/p>\n
Beyond its romantic and genealogical value, the physical components of the auction lot hold significant numismatic importance. Surviving examples of the 2 doppia from the year 1619 are exceptionally rare in the modern collecting market. Throughout the centuries following its minting, the vast majority of such high-purity gold coins were routinely melted down or reminted to serve newer economic demands, leaving very few intact specimens for posterity. When genuine 1619 doppias do occasionally appear at major international sales, they typically command high prices from specialized collectors. True to form, this particular specimen, protected for centuries within its silver housing, easily outpaced its pre-sale valuation of \u00a33,000 to \u00a35,000 to achieve a final realized price of \u00a38,528.<\/p>\n
The survival of the 1619 gold coin is an extraordinary stroke of historical fortune, especially considering the dramatic nature of the locket’s rediscovery. When the farm laborer’s spade struck the buried object near Mashanaglass around 1850, the exterior silver locket bore the immediate brunt of the heavy blow, resulting in visible damage to the casing. However, the coin sealed safely on the inside remained entirely untouched by the metal tool that unearthed it. Experts have emphasized that the very container meant to hold a couple’s eternal love ultimately acted as a protective shield, preserving the internal gold currency from destruction. <\/p>\n
It is remarkably uncommon for researchers and collectors to encounter a coin whose entire documented lifecycle\u2014from its creation at an Italian mint, through its transformation into a deeply personal Irish marriage keepsake, to its accidental unearthing and subsequent historical study\u2014is so thoroughly recorded and preserved. For those wishing to learn more about the remarkable Coppinger marriage locket and the details of its successful sale, further information can be found directly through Roseberys Auctions in London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A remarkable artifact bearing physical witness to centuries of love, faith, and hidden history has made a triumphant return to the public eye, captivating collectors and historians alike. A silver locket crafted in the turbulent year of 1660 to commemorate the marriage of a prominent Catholic landowning couple in County Cork, Ireland, recently crossed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[426],"tags":[209,1203,444,1395,430,4085,4102,2937,1348,4082,3029,4084,882,4083,429,431,1188],"class_list":["post-3075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oriental-collectibles-and-numismatics","tag-antiques","tag-auction","tag-century","tag-coin","tag-coins","tag-containing","tag-exceeds","tag-expectations","tag-golden","tag-irish","tag-italian","tag-locket","tag-london","tag-marriage","tag-numismatics","tag-oriental-collectibles","tag-rare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}