Edward IV mourning brooch – estimate £4000-6000 at Woolley & Wallis.
Some of his hair was found to be perfectly preserved and was used to make a series of mourning jewels. This brooch, inscribed Edward IIII Rex Died 9 April 1483, forms part of a private collection of early jewellery offered by Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on July 14-15.
The estimate is £4000-6000.
Edward IV was crowned twice: first after defeating the forces of the Lancastrian Henry VI at the Battle of Wakefield in 1461 and again in 1471, the year after he had been deposed after a controversial marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. His young son and heir Edward V was one of the ‘Princes in the Tower’, presumed murdered after the throne was seized by Richard III.
