Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council owns £492,870 of ‘Civic Regalia’ according to a valuation from 2021, a Freedom of Information Act has revealed.
There are 26 different items among the council’s collection. Some of the most valuable include an £85,000 Mayoral Mace, a £95,000 Mayoral Chain and Badge, and a Mayor & Mayoress Pendent worth £75,000.
Most of the items in the collection were purchased or gifted to Rotherham Council during the early 20th Century, and as such not all of the purchase prices are on record.
August 1, 2017. Then Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Eve Rose and mace berears, as she joins Mayors and Lord Mayors from cities and towns across Yorkshire to parade through Sheffield to celebrate Yorkshire Day.
Rotherham’s inventory was examined by fine arts valuer Adam Schoon on June 8 2021 and was assessed for “insurance purposes only.”
The upkeep of regalia is undertaken by Rotherham’s Civic Officers, meaning there is no specific, annual cost of maintenance for the council.
A footnote in the document describes the Mayor & Mayoress Pendant as “the most beautiful and the most valuable of all…Elizabethan in design, made in pure platinum, and set with 77 white diamonds, 28 sapphires at intervals, and 2 rubies on the sides of the fleur de lys.”
The Mayor of Rotherham for 2022-2023 is Cllr Tajamal Khan who was sworn in at an official ceremony at the Town Hall on 20 May 2022.
Mayor Khan’s charities are @ShilohRotherham, @RU_CST, @RotherhamCCC & @TRFT_Charity
Read more: https://t.co/pKZ652uinC pic.twitter.com/FYzgZPrq85
— Mayor of Rotherham (@RotherhamMayor) May 23, 2022
The Mayoral Chain appears to be the item that Rotherham Council has owned longest. “Bought by public subscription and first worn in August 1881, it was made by T&J Bragg of Birmingham and cost about £250” – worth roughly £32,000 today.
A Mayoress Chain and Badge – presumably for the spouse of the mayor – was valued at £70,000 together. They were “first worn in 1911 commemorating the coronation of King George.” The badge is 8cm high, 18ct gold, and enclosed inside is an enamel portrait of King George V surrounded by 33 diamonds.
Bowls, dishes, cups and candelabrums are just some of the other items in Rotherham’s collection, on top of the jewellery.
