Last Chance To See Mary, Queen Of Scots Silver Casket In Kirkcudbright

The display of the silver casket believed to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots at Kirkcudbright Galleries will come to an end on Sunday 27 April.

An iconic piece of Scotland’s national heritage, the casket has been on display since November, and has been seen by 12,500 visitors, a 20 per cent increase in visitors over the winter period

Councillor Maureen Johnstone, Chair of the Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing Committee of Dumfries and Galloway Council said:
It’s been wonderful to have the casket in Kirkcudbright Galleries these last few months and to give both local people and visitors to the area the opportunity to view a national treasure up close.

At the end of its run in Kirkcudbright, the casket will move on to Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum from 1 May – 31 August 2025.

Its display at both venues is supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections.

Made in Paris, probably between 1493 and 1510, the casket is a superb and extremely rare work of early French silver, very little of which survives, even in France. It is likely that its long-standing association with Mary has kept it preserved for over 450 years.
For three centuries, it was owned by the family of the Dukes of Hamilton, following its acquisition, around 1674, by Anne, Duchess of Hamilton. According to a handwritten note stored with it from the late 17th century, she bought the casket, previously owned by Mary, Marchioness of Douglas, on the understanding that it had belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots.

The note records the belief that this is the casket which played a dramatic role in Mary’s downfall when, in December 1568, a similar casket was produced at a hearing ordered by Elizabeth I against Mary at Westminster. This contained what have become known as the Casket Letters. These love poems and letters, allegedly from Mary to her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, implicated them both in a conspiracy to murder her second husband, Lord Darnley.

The casket was acquired for the nation in 2022 for £1.8 million thanks to support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, the Scottish Government and several trusts, foundations and individual donors.

Details will be announced this summer of another Highlight Loan to Kirkcudbright Galleries from National Museums Scotland; a star object from the Galloway Hoard which has never been on display.

The tour of the Mary, Queen of Scots casket is part of National Museums Scotland’s National Strategy, which sees collections and expertise shared through loans, participation in national projects, community engagement, funding for acquisitions and free knowledge and skills development opportunities for museums across Scotland.

Over 2500 objects are currently on loan to Scottish organisations, bringing the National Collection to audiences across the country. These include a rare 2nd century Roman coin, currently on display at Trimontium Museum in Melrose and objects from a 250 year old burial on Arnish Moor, Lewis, currently on display at the Kinloch Historical Society as well as a host of long-term loans to museums around the country including Kilmartin Museum, Perth Museum, the McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum and Lews Castle, among others.