Inventory of Elizabeth I of England

The Inventory of Jewels and Plate of Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1574 was published from manuscripts by Arthur Jefferies Collins in 1955. The published inventory describes jewels and silver-plate belonging to Elizabeth I of England with detailed references to other source material.

The sources used by Collins were British Library Harley MS. 1560 and Stowe MS.555. The manuscripts represent the "Quenis Majesties juelles plate and other stuff" in 1574 and additions by gift or purchase over the next 20 years which were kept in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. Collins also collated information from other books and manuscripts to cross-reference information about the objects listed. Gifts of plate to the queen passed from the Privy Chamber to the Jewel House. Some pieces were melted down and others were given as diplomatic gifts. When the queen travelled, the towns she visited often gave her gifts of silver-gilt cups.

In 1574 the office of the Jewel House was located in a two-storey building on the south side of the White Tower. This contained the records of the jewels and packing materials for sending jewels to court. Until the Restoration in 1660, the Jewel House contained the monarch's personal collection of jewellery as well as the royal plate and the inalienable state regalia. The coronation regalia were kept separately at Westminster Abbey. Many items of personal jewellery from the Jewel House were pawned or sold by Charles I during the early 17th century, and most of the plate and regalia were melted down and turned into coins by Parliament during the English Civil War.

A list of jewels in the possession of Anne of Denmark in 1606 was published by Diana Scarisbrick.

The 1574 inventory was made John Astley, Master and Treasurer of the Jewel House. The Master had an annual salary of £50 and was able to exact payments from goldsmiths appointed to work for the Jewel House, and those who transported plate from the House to diplomats. The post was lucrative, but some of the perquisites of the role were exaggerated or overstated by Sir Gilbert Talbot, who was made Master in 1660 and in 1680 wrote a treatise 'Of the Jewel house'.

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