Alfred Jewel discovered again
Among the more eagerly contested entries to the Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) sale on January 24 was a late 19th century replica of the Alfred Jewel: the great example of Anglo-Saxon goldsmithing found in Somerset in 1693 and today one of the most popular exhibits at the Ashmolean Museum.
Inscribed Aelfred Mec Heht Gewyrcan (Alfred ordered me made), it once formed the handle for an aes…