I purchased it some fifty years ago at the old S.P.C.K. shop near the High Street Gate just outside the Cathedral Close in Salisbury, England, when I began my studies at the Theological College there. I had it in my college study, and it then was in my office at the Anglican parish I served in Bristol, England.
It was brought back to America when we returned, and it was in my office at both Episcopal parishes in which I served. It was then in the first parish office when we came to Texas to establish the Parish of Our Lady of the Atonement, and it stayed with me through all the years of construction.
A relic of the True Cross which was given to me was embedded in it in 1987, and it was used for many years at the parish for the Veneration of the Cross. When I retired as pastor it was then placed at the altar of my private Chapel of the Martyr St. George, where I now see it every day as I offer Mass and pray the daily Offices.
In an additional note, it isn't unusual, whenever relics of the True Cross are venerated, that one might hear questions about the authenticity of such relics, often echoing the statement by the protestant John Calvin that "if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load."
In 1870 an actual study was carried out, making a catalogue of all known relics of the True Cross. It demonstrated that if the fragments of the Cross were brought together again, all of them together would not reach one-third the size of a cross sufficient to have been used to crucify our Lord.
Are there false relics around? Without a doubt. However, an authentic relic will have with it a certification, properly sealed, attesting to its authenticity.