A pair of Charles I copper-alloy stirrups with the cipher of Charles I

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These iconic riding stirrups were crafted for Charles I's coronation and later used by William III in the pivotal Battle of the Boyne, which took place in 1690. Charles I ascended to the throne in 1625 but his coronation ceremony didn't occur until the following year; 1626 is inscribed on these stirrups alongside a regal crown bearing the cypher C.R.A pair of copper-alloy stirrups with the distinctive cypher of Charles I, dating back to the second quarter of the 17th century. Estimate: £40,000–60,000. They will be showcased in The Exceptional Sale at Christie's London on July 6th. We know that Charles I rode a horse during his coronation procession by barge from Hampton Court to Westminster, which was disrupted by strong tides forcing him to complete the journey on horseback with these very stirrups securing his feet. This royal provenance is further validated by entries in the 19th-century journal Notes and Queries. Major Stewart Blacker writes in Volume VII of the 4th Series printed in 1871: "The stirrups, however, bear evidence as being the property of an earlier king than William III, namely Charles I... The leather was looped on, is plainly marked, dotted or inscribed, a royal crown with the cypher C.R. and the date 1626 beneath." A print of Charles I and the Duke of Hamilton, after Van Dyke (1782), also provides visual evidence. In an earlier edition of Notes and Queries, a correspondent mentioned seeing a pair of stirrups in a house around August 1835, which were then carefully preserved as having been used by King William III at the Battle of the Boyne. It's believed that William's use of these accoutrements was a symbolic gesture, given his Dutch upbringing and subsequent deposition of his Catholic father-in-law James II. It is estimated that no other pairs of 17th-century stirrups with such royal associations have survived.