A Perfect Eye and Steady Hand

This handsomely illustrated book is published to mark the opening of theGoldsmiths’ Gallery at the new London Museum in Smithfield. Showcasing theCheapside Hoard alongside historic treasures from the Goldsmiths’ Company’scollection, it takes readers on a global journey in the wake of plate, jewels andgemstones – and the people who made, traded and treasured them.Gold and silver are precious – prized as a form of portable capital, essential forthe mints and coinage, used to express power and status. Yet great skill was neededin the buying, the fashioning and the selling of either metal. As fashions changed,much early modern plate and jewellery was melted down when sentiment gave wayto market value. This makes the survival of the Goldsmiths’ Company’s holdingsexceptional – and the Cheapside Hoard, unearthed by workmen in 1912 after lyingundisturbed for nearly 300 years – nothing short of extraordinary. Comprisingover 500 pieces – made of emeralds, diamonds and sapphires sourced from acrossthe world, worked into mesmerising brooches, buttons, necklaces and rings –the Cheapside Hoard is the greatest single collection of Elizabethan and Stuartjewellery in the world.The book places the Hoard in its historical and global context, celebrating italongside highlights from the Goldsmiths’ Company’s collection. It offers fourmain chapters on Elizabethan and early Stuart London, the goldsmiths’ trade, theHoard itself, and the city’s global networks. Interwoven thematic sections explorecraftsmanship, personal stories, trade practices, taste and fashion – bringingtogether jewels and plate to reveal a rich tapestry of skill, style and exchange.