SOME of the finest examples of maces and civic and ceremonial plate in Scotland - including this splendid Glasgow mace, from 1912 - went on show in Edinburgh in August 1955.
The exhibition at the Royal Scottish Museum, which was open to the public during the Festival, was linked to the first conference of the Guild of Mace-Bearers to be held in Scotland, at the Dean of Guild Courtroom in Edinburgh.
Among the striking exhibits were the 1617 Edinburgh mace and the city sword presented by Charles 1 in 1626 and the three medieval maces of St Andrew’s University, as well as some more contemporary examples - the maces belonging to the nine trades of Dundee and the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow., for example. Maces from the Court of Session could also be viewed.
Pictured here, in the hands of George Cordery, a museum art assistant, was the Glasgow mace, which had been presented in 1912 by a burgess of the city, the Earl of Rosebery.
The plate on show ranged from the ecclesiastical to the sporting: from the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church, to the oldest of the silver golf clubs from the Royal and Ancient at St Andrews. Also included were contemporary provosts’ badges of office, designed by Scottish goldsmiths.
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