A ring made for the British royal family to mourn a princess has been discovered in a charity shop and will auction with a price over 300 times what was paid for it.
The ring was made in honour of Princess Amelia, the youngest daughter of George III, who died in 1810 aged 27.
The princess was the youngest of 15 children, and the king and queen’s sixth daughter. She suffered from ill health for much of her life, and her death may have contributed to her father’s descent into mental illness and his resulting removal from the throne and replacement with the Prince Regent.
The ring was found in a charity shop in Leicester and was bought for £15.
The ring is obviously of a very high quality. The white enamel symbolises Amelia’s youth and purity. Image courtesy of Hansons Auctioneers.
It was taken to Hansons Auctioneers.
Owner Charles Hanson said: “I was stunned and dazzled., From a simple box emerged a piece of deeply personal Royal history – commissioned by the Royal family itself to honour a lost loved one. This mourning ring was created to commemorate the life and death of Princess Amelia, and it speaks volumes in its craftsmanship and symbolism.”
He has called the piece the most important charity shop find he’s encountered in a decade.
It was made by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, Royal goldsmiths.
They handcrafted 52 of the rings for the Prince Regent (later George IV).
Amelia’s death deeply affected her father in particular. Expecting her own death, she reportedly had a mourning ring containing a lock of her hair made for George III. “Remember me,” she said, as she gave it to him, and those words are engraved on these pieces, given to royal family and Amelia’s friends after her funeral.
The rings cost 58 shillings when made, certainly over £100 in today’s money.
This example was bought for £15 and is now expected to realised between £3,000 and £5,000 at auction next week, June 12.
Amelia’s short life had a big impact, as this commemorative image showing her apotheosis (with her brothers Octavius and Alfred, who died in early childhood) shows.
The British Royal family generally is extremely collectible. These unusual items are somewhere between mass-produced souvenirs, like mugs made for Queen Victoria’s coronation that can make over £600 at auction, and personal items such as Princess Diana’s Swan Lake jewels (reportedly sold for over $1 million) or the $1.8-million diamond owned by Queen Mary.
