WARWICKSHIRE, ENGLAND—The Guardian reports that a metal detectorist has discovered a sixteenth-century heart-shaped pendant suspended from an enameled bale on a heavy gold chain in England’s West Midlands. Made of 24-carat gold, its enameled decorations include a bush bearing the Tudor rose and a pomegranate—the symbols of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Their initials, H and K, appear on the reverse. Rachel King of the British Museum said that the letters TOVS and IORS, which appear on ribbon motifs, are a pun on the French word toujours, which means "always," and “all yours.” Research has not linked the object to Henry VIII or Katherine personally, but King said that the quality of the object suggests it may have been commissioned by a high-ranking noble as a prize at a major tournament around 1520. “We don’t know why it was in Warwickshire and who had it there,” she added. “At least not yet.” To read about a silver-gilt heart pendant dating to a period of strife between the Church of England and Roman Catholics following Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s, go to "Heart of the Matter."
