A 500-year-old pendant commissioned by King Henry VIII is set to sell for more than $4 million after being discovered in a field by a man with a metal detector. The Tudor Heart, as it is now known, was found in 2019 by cafe owner Charlie Clarke in the U.K., who is set to become a millionaire when it goes up for auction next month. The artifact, a 24-karat gold pendant inscribed with the letters ‘H’ and ‘K,’ is believed to have been created in 1518 to commemorate the betrothal of King Henry and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon’s daughter, Princess Mary, to the French heir apparent. “We have absolutely nothing of this complexity or type surviving from Henry VIII’s early reign,” curator Rachel King told The Art Newspaper, who said the item was likely gifted to someone of high status, like a “son of a knight or a baron or above”. Clarke previously told The Guardian his “once in 30 lifetimes” find caused him to “shriek like a schoolgirl,” adding “When you see that color then that is what you are there for as a metal detectorist.” The British Museum is currently seeking funds to purchase the pendant on behalf of the U.K. before it goes up for auction to a private collector.
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