A fascinating story involving a mysterious Ottoman dagger, long believed to have belonged to King Henry VIII and later stolen in a dramatic 20th-century heist, is being unveiled in a new exhibition that opened in London on Saturday, November 1st. The intriguing tale, filled with mistaken identities, historical misconceptions, and criminal intrigue, will be explored in detail at the exhibition titled "Henry VIII's Lost Dagger: From the Tudor Court to the Victorian Stage."
The ornate dagger at the center of this story was purchased in the mid-18th century by Horace Walpole, a prominent politician and Gothic horror writer who kept the weapon at his residence, Strawberry Hill House, which now serves as a museum. Silvia Davoli, the museum's curator, has spent considerable time uncovering the weapon's true history, which forms one of the central narratives of the current exhibition.
Walpole's belief that the dagger had belonged to Henry VIII was based on an attribution by George Vertue, an 18th-century engraver and recognized Tudor expert. Walpole's conviction was further reinforced by drawings and paintings of the king created by Hans Holbein the Younger, which depicted Henry VIII carrying a jeweled dagger similar to the one in Walpole's possession.
However, curator Davoli's research has revealed a startling truth: the dagger never actually belonged to the Tudor monarch. After carefully studying 18th-century drawings of the weapon created by John Carter, which were preserved in the museum's archive, and consulting with Tim Stanley, the Victoria and Albert Museum's Middle East expert, Davoli concluded that the dagger was actually crafted in the late 16th century in Istanbul. This dating is particularly significant because Henry VIII died in 1547, making it impossible for him to have owned a weapon created decades after his death.
Despite the revelation about its true origins, the intrigue surrounding the dagger only intensified following Walpole's death. His daughters eventually decided to sell their late father's extensive collection of possessions, including the controversial dagger. By the mid-19th century, the weapon had found its way into the hands of Charles Kean, a renowned Shakespearean actor of the era.
The dagger's ownership continued to change hands among wealthy collectors and art enthusiasts. In 1898, it was purchased by art connoisseur George Hunt Heigham, who later sold it to a dealer named Lascade. The weapon's most notable owner became William Waldorf Astor, who paid £400 in 1911 to add the dagger to his impressive collection of Tudor artifacts housed at Hever Castle, the historic location where Henry VIII had famously courted Anne Boleyn.
The most dramatic chapter in the dagger's history unfolded during the night of April 21, 1946, when a daring heist took place at Hever Castle. A chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce entered the castle grounds after being waved through by a policeman who assumed the vehicle contained John Jacob Astor, who had inherited the castle from his father. However, the car actually contained robbers who proceeded to steal more than 20 extremely valuable objects from the collection, including the mysterious dagger, a prayer book that had belonged to Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn's Book of Hours, and various pieces of jewelry.
According to police reports preserved in the Hever archives, investigators suspected that the theft was orchestrated by Victor Hervey, the sixth Marquess of Bristol, who had previously served prison time for other heists. Strangely, despite the evidence pointing in his direction, Hervey was never officially questioned about the robbery. Alison Palmer, Hever's current curator, believes the stolen items met a grim fate: "My suspicion is that the jewels were melted or sold as valuable raw materials."
Because the original dagger remains missing to this day, visitors to the Strawberry Hill exhibition will not be able to see the actual weapon that sparked this centuries-long mystery. However, Davoli's research efforts have uncovered six other similar jewel-encrusted Ottoman daggers from the same period and region, including one housed in the Kremlin in Moscow. Two of these comparable weapons, on loan from Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire and Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, will be prominently displayed in the "Henry VIII's Lost Dagger" exhibition, allowing visitors to understand what the missing piece might have looked like and appreciate the craftsmanship of such Ottoman artifacts.
The exhibition raises an intriguing question about historical attribution and the power of provenance in the art world. Given the revelations about the dagger's true origins and its connection to Walpole rather than Henry VIII, some have suggested that the exhibition might be more accurately titled "Walpole's Lost Dagger," reflecting the weapon's actual historical significance and the role it played in the Gothic writer's collection rather than perpetuating the Tudor myth that has surrounded it for centuries.
