King's College Chapel Silver Card Case, 1854

This is an extremely rare "castle top" silver card case featuring the chapel of King's College in Cambridge. 

The chapel is in high relief to the front and remains crisp and well detailed. The reverse side of the case is embossed with scrolls around a central vacant cartouche. The case in hinged and the full set of Birmingham hallmarks are located to the inner lip and include the "AT" maker's mark of Alfred Taylor. This rare card case is in excellent condition.

The scene of the chapel shows the twin towers to the front and a series of flying buttresses along the flank. The chapel is the oldest of King's College's buildings with the foundation stone laid by Henry VI in 1446 and is the most famous and recognisable building in the city of Cambridge. Henry VI was the first patron and the chapel was then built in phases by a succession of kings until 1515, a period which spanned the Wars of the Roses and the transition of power from the Plantagenet to the Tudor monarchs. King's College Chapel is recognised as one of Europe's finest late medieval buildings and posseses the largest fan vaulted stone ceiling in the world.