A pair of mussel shell earrings set in silver and believed to be among the only surviving possessions of legendary American Indian princess Pocahontas on display at a London museum in their first public showing since 1907.

Each earring is formed of a double mussel-shell, the rare white kind found on the eastern shore of the Berings Strait. They are set in silver rims, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and are worth approximately $500,000.

Bly Straube, curator of the Jamestown Rediscovery project, said “The earrings on display at Museum in Docklands are most likely to have been crafted during Pocahontas’ sojourn amongst the well heeled of London’s court society. In 1866 a new bride of the Rolfe family was presented with them, and told that they were handed down through the generations and had been Pocahontas’ earrings.”

To start with pearls were often worn by Native American nobility, yet this pair has silver rims with steel point inlays, which suggests they were set in England. However, we do know that while imprisoned in the Tower of London the Earl of Northumberland repaired some earrings for Pocahontas.

The earrings were handed down through the Rolfe family and now belong to the Association for Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan of the Algonquin Nation, gained fame for keeping peace and serving as an “ambassador” between American Indians and British settlers.

“She is often referred to as an ambassador between two cultures. You can see her coming (to London) and dying here and being buried here as evidence of that, as sort of a link between the two countries,” said Bly Straube of the Virginia antiquities group.

The earrings were sent from Virginia for the exhibition at the Museum of Docklands marking the upcoming 400th anniversary of the first permanent British settlement in America at Jamestown, Va., which was founded in 1607. They were on display in London until July 10, 2005 and then returned to Virginia for the 2006 opening of a new museum of colonial artifacts at Jamestown.