{"id":42960,"date":"2021-11-12T13:36:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T18:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/?p=42960"},"modified":"2021-11-12T13:36:04","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T18:36:04","slug":"the-other-boleyn-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2021\/11\/the-other-boleyn-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Boleyn Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"a<\/a>

Image courtesy of: Paul Fitzsimmons \/ Marhamchurch Antiques<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes you don\u2019t need a stained parchment map with a big, red X to find some treasure. Some treasures can be found in the most unexpected places, including when we\u2019re unknowingly staring right at them. For example, just a few weeks ago, a British family discovered that their sphinx-style lawn statues are actual Egyptian artifacts<\/a>. Earlier this week, a British antiques dealer made a similar find. In 2019, Paul Fitzsimmons of Marhamchurch Antiques<\/a> bought a gilded wooden falcon<\/a> for \u00a375 ($101) at an auction. It was described in the catalogue as an \u201cantique carved wooden bird,\u201d and, though it was all in one piece, it was tarnished and almost completely black, likely caked with soot after being hung on a wall near a fireplace. Marhamchurch specializes in 15th to 17th century furniture and wood artifacts, so it seemed right up their alley.<\/p>\n

Even at the time of the auction, there was something about this particular wooden bird that led Fitzsimmons to believe that there was more to it. Fitzsimmons had a hunch that the carved bird had some sort of royal connection because of the design: it is a falcon, with a crown and scepter, perched near a bed of red and white roses. Interestingly enough, this description matches that of the personal sigil<\/a> used by Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and the second of Henry VIII\u2019s six wives. Sure enough, after a good amount of research, Fitzsimmons can confidently say that this small, gilded bird carving belonged to the famous queen.<\/p>\n

Though purchased for only \u00a375, Fitzsimmons estimates that the artifact is worth, conservatively, about \u00a3200,000. That estimate is on the conservative end because it does not take into consideration the fact that Anne Boleyn is the most well-known of Henry VIII\u2019s wives. She has been one of the most visible figures from the Tudor era in terms of pop culture representation. She has been portrayed by the likes of Natalie Dormer, Vanessa Redgrave, Natalie Portman, Merle Oberon, and Claire Foy. More recently, though, Anne Boleyn can be seen on Broadway and the West End in the Tudor-themed rock musical <\/a>Six<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anne Boleyn\u2019s presence in popular culture comes with a fair bit of irony, mainly because of the iconoclasm following her execution. Art relating to Anne Boleyn is very rare in Britain today because, according to Fitzsimmons<\/a>, \u201cHenry VIII did his utmost best to completely obliterate every trace of her. All her emblems were removed from the palace, and nothing survived.\u201d Therefore the excellent condition of the piece only adds to its value, both historical and material.<\/p>\n

Fitzsimmons has expressed his intent to loan the piece to Hampton Court Palace, which was one of Henry VIII\u2019s residences. Historians like Tracy Borman, chief curator of Historic Royal Palaces<\/a>, speculate that the carving was once kept in Anne Boleyn\u2019s private chambers, making the piece\u2019s return to one of her former residences all the more appropriate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you don\u2019t need a stained parchment map with a big, red X to find some treasure. Some treasures can be found in the most unexpected places, including when we\u2019re unknowingly staring right at them. For example, just a few … More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-42960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rehs-contemporary","tag-antiques"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Other Boleyn Bird - Rehs Galleries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A carved wood bird once belonging to Anne Boleyn, and now thought to be worth in excess of \u00a3200K was purchased by a UK dealer for \u00a375.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2021\/11\/the-other-boleyn-bird\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Other Boleyn Bird\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A carved wood bird once belonging to Anne Boleyn, and now thought to be worth in excess of \u00a3200K was purchased by a UK dealer for \u00a375.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2021\/11\/the-other-boleyn-bird\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rehs Galleries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RehsGalleriesInc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-12T18:36:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/boleyn-bird-1024x870.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan Scheer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan Scheer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/the-other-boleyn-bird\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/the-other-boleyn-bird\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nathan Scheer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1d33fd182b28afdad8fc3548ffe6bdc4\"},\"headline\":\"The Other Boleyn Bird\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-12T18:36:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/the-other-boleyn-bird\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":505,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/the-other-boleyn-bird\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/boleyn-bird.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Antiques\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Rehs Contemporary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/the-other-boleyn-bird\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/the-other-boleyn-bird\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Other Boleyn Bird - 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