A LONG-LOST lucky charm from the 17th century is expected to fetch thousands at a London auction.
The precious marriage locket belonged to a Catholic landowning family who lived just outside Macroom.
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The West Cork treasure was rediscovered by a farm worker nearly two centuries later.
The silver ornament, dated to around 1660, is expected to fetch between £3,000 and £5,000 when it goes under the hammer next week (October 1).
Anna Evans, Head of Works of Art at Roseberys auction house, said: “It is extraordinary to be able to trace this locket back to a marriage in County Cork in 1660, and then pick up its story again almost 200 years later when it was struck by a farm labourer’s spade beneath the ruins of Mashanaglass Castle.”
It’s believed the charm was given to Margarett Roche by her husband Robert Coppinger to commemorate their wedding.
The Coppingers of Carhue, Magourney, were landowners and well-known in the area.
Engraved with their names and carrying a rare Italian gold coin dated 1619, it remained lost for generations.
The wedding locket was only unearthed by accident near the ruined Mashanaglass Castle around 1850.
A surviving 19th-century account gives details of a farm labourer working under the ruins of Mashanaglass who found the locket.
His spade struck the nativity scene on the shiny cover, leaving damage still visible today.
“What makes the story even more remarkable is that it found its way back to the Coppinger family, ” said Anna Evans.
“An object made for Robert and Margarett Coppinger, lost for generations in the Cork landscape, was eventually returned to their descendants. Very few objects survive with such a vivid sense of the people and place they belonged to.”
The story of its unusual find is supported by a number of documents, including a copy of the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society from 1895 which mentions the discovery.
The lucky charm also comes with a handwritten letter from the Keeper of Coins at the British Museum identifying the gold coin and dated 1892.
The outside of the wedding locket is decorated with scenes of the nativity and the Adoration of the Magi, while the inside shows the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
