Fabergé Shire Horses

These wee, proud-chested beasts are in the Royal Collection and were commissioned by Edward VII. Here’s one (in chalcedony and rose diamonds) and here’s the other (in agate and ditto). Oh, and there’s more! The king’s shooting pony, Iron Duke, is immortalised in “aventurine quartz, cabochon sapphires, nephrite, silver-gilt”, and another shire, who is either Field Marshall or Hoe Forest King. They were gifts exchanged between the king and queen – based on fairly lowly working horses, not Derby-winning thoroughbreds. I wonder if there was some kind of private joke involved?

Published by Susanna Forrest

Writer Amazons of Paris, The Age of the Horse and If Wishes Were Horses.

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