These four horseshoes were found embedded in the exterior walls of an 18th century stone dwelling in Brittany, France.

Horseshoes have a long history of being associated with augmented fortune and the ability to repel evil influences. Traditionally made from iron, it was believed that the very material of the horseshoe had the power to ward off or harm malevolent paranormal entities.

In the 10th century the idea of the lucky horseshoe was augmented by the legend of St. Dunstan. A pious and charitable clergyman, St. Dunstan held a series of important ecclesiastical offices in England, including the Archbishopric of Canterbury, before his death in 988. According to legend, it was during his time living as a hermit in Glastonbury that St. Dunstan encountered the Devil. Disguised as a “tramping vagrant”, the Devil commissioned St. Dunstan, who was a skilled blacksmith, to complete some metalwork for him. Seeing through his deception, the holy hermit seized the Devil by his diabolic hoof and proceeded to shoe him, furiously nailing a metal horseshoe to the Devil’s hoof. Once he was done, the saint only agreed to remove the shoe and free the Devil after he promised he would never pass through a door over which a horseshoe hangs. After that, the hanging of a horseshoe outside one’s home acquired a religious symbolism, being associated with divine protection from the Devil.