This finding was shocking, because Henry VIII was executed in 1536, and almost all traces of the second queen were cleared.

A new analysis shows that the carved wood-carved falcon sold at auction in 2019 for only $101 was once owned by the doomed Tudor Queen Anne Boleyn. According to the "Observer" report, the true value of the artifact is estimated to be approximately US$270,000. 

When Paul Fitzsimmons, a dealer of Marhamchurch Antiques, first spotted this gilded oak bird, it was covered with a black substance that might be soot. Nevertheless, he immediately realized that this was a valuable thing.

"I didn't immediately know that it was Anne Boleyn's badge," he told observers. "But I know it has some kind of royal connection, because it has a crown and a scepter, and it is a royal bird."

CNN's Hannah Ryan and Catherine Krebs reported that Fitzsimmons matched the origin of the falcon with a painting of Henry VIII’s former residence Hampton Court. The fickle King of England beheaded Anne in 1536 after only three years of marriage.

"This discovery is significant," Tracy Borman, chief curator of Historic Royal Palaces, who manages Hampton Palaces, told CNN. "Artifacts related to Anne Boleyn are very rare, thanks to Henry VIII's desire to remove all traces of her from his palace after she was executed in 1536."

Fitzsimmons plans to provide the Falcon to the Hampton Court on a long-term loan to ensure it "returns to the right place," as he told CNN.

According to the blog On the Tudor Trail run by researcher Natalie Grueninger, Annie is related to the image of a white falcon because her father Thomas Boleyn is the heir of Ormonde Earl Butlers, and he uses the falcon crest in his coat of arms. Around the time Annie and Henry were married, she began to use a badge depicting a falcon falling on a rose.

Borman said that this bird is similar to other birds carved before Anne ascended the throne and may have been part of the palace decoration scheme. Henry probably did not remove the other surviving falcon ornaments because they were located high in the ceiling of the Hampton Court Hall, where they were blacked out by smoke and did not attract people's attention. According to BBC News, on the other hand, the newly discovered sculpture may be located in Anne’s private residence and was hidden by a supporter of the Queen after her downfall.

As Borman pointed out, this falcon is very different from the other falcons found in the hall.

"This person is wearing a crown," she told the observer. "This is definitely an affirmation of the fact that Henry now has imperial ambitions. He is trying to replace the authority of the Pope and promote himself to some kind of emperor rather than just a king."

A post shared by Paul Fitzsimmons (@marhamchurchantiques)

Henry is notorious for his six marriages. After his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, failed to provide him with a surviving male heir, the king sought a divorce. When Pope Clement VII refused to approve, Henry seceded from the Roman Catholic Church and married Anne. 

In 1536, Henry let Anne (her only living child is the future Elizabeth I) executed on false charges of adultery, incest, and conspiracy to kill her husband. As Melan Solley wrote for Smithsonian magazine last year, Henry orchestrated his wife’s death, choosing to behead her with a sword instead of burning her to death on the stake or executing it with an axe.

Borman contains information about this new discovery in her forthcoming book on the history of the British monarchy, "Crowns and Scepters". 

"The irony is that Anne Boleyn is the most popular of the six wives, and she may be the one with the least existing evidence...because she was obliterated by Henry," Borman told observers. "So it's really special. Obviously I'm very excited about it. I had a shuddering moment when I realized that it was definitely suitable for decorating schemes."

Livia Gershon is the Smithsonian's daily correspondent. She is also a freelance journalist in New Hampshire. She has written for JSTOR Daily, Daily Beast, Boston Globe, HuffPost and Vice.

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