Medieval Iron Horse Bit Group

Each with remains of gilding and/or enamelling and loops for suspension or attachment; devices including: one discoid with pointillé field and facing female bust; one a gilt rectangular plaque and hinged panel each with a blue enamelled lion passant; one a quatrefoil plaque with blue enamel field and reserved spread eagle. 25.6 grams total, 28-42 mm



Found UK. Acquired on the UK art market after 2000. Ex Stratford collection, Suffolk, UK.

Or a leg ring inscribed '+Earle of Rutland' in derivative black letter script, for a female merlin or sparrow hawk (due to the youth of Edmund Plantagenet who died aged 17); the ring with a convex interior face. 0.56 grams, 8 mm



Acquired in the 1960s. Ex Bursnall collection, Leicestershire, UK. From the collection of a North American gentleman.

Unique and with links to royalty and the Wars of the Roses. Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland was executed after the Battle of Wakefield (probably by John Clifford) and was the son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (a great-grandson of Edward III, father of Edward IV and one of the most powerful English magnates during the Wars of the Roses between the Yorkists and Lancastrians). The first Earl of Rutland was Edmund Plantagenet (grandson of Edward III and executed following the Southampton Plot against Henry V), uncle to Richard. The Earldom of Rutland has historically been closely linked to the Duchy and House of York.

Composed of tanged sickle blades of various profiles. 1.75 kg total, 27.5-39 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.