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  • image L113

Key said to have come from the State Apartments at Windsor Castle, late seventeenth century

Gold, possibly gilt metal

Museum number: L113

Not on display

Curatorial note

This golden key bears the royal cipher of King William III and Queen Mary and probably dates from c.1690. According to the Museum's earliest inventories (1837) this key previously belonged to George Davis who, like his father before him, had been the royal locksmith at Windsor Castle. This imposing key is supposed to have fitted locks in the State Apartments. Such keys were used ceremonially by prominent courtiers close to the King.

There is a very similar key of the same approximate date in the Harley Collection at Welbeck Abbey.


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