Object of the Day, Museum Edition: An Electrotype of the Mace of the City of Gloucester

Mace of the City of Gloucester
Reproduction, c. 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A mace is essentially a ceremonial club. In many countries maces are symbolic of governmental power, and specifically in the U.K., a mace represents the presence of the Sovereign at a meeting or gathering. In fact, some meetings—such as those of parliament—are only valid if the mace is present.

This is a Nineteenth Century reproduction of a mace which was originally made in the Seventeenth Century. The original mace is one from City of Gloucester which was made in 1652 (and altered in 1660) of silver-gilt.

The process of reproduction employed here is called, “electrotype” which was described thusly in the “Art Journal” of February, 1844:

The electrotypes are perfect; the finest lines, the most minute dots are as faithfully copied as the boldest objections.

Electrotypes are exact copies of metal objects and was a process which was discovered as a by-product of the invention of electroplating (silver plating by electrolysis), which Elkington and Company patented in the 1840s.

The process—which was undeniably mysterious and confusing to the public at large—was further described by “Penny Magazine,” also in 1844. “Early experiments, often by amateur scientists using Elkington’s home electroplating kits, involved coating fruit, flowers and animals in silver or gold 'with the most perfect accuracy'. They 'retained all the characteristics of the specimens before their immersion.” And, so, a lucrative market for recreations of famous works of art in metal arose, however, to avoid breaking English hallmarking laws, all marks were to be deleted from copies of silver objects.

Elkington and Co. launches a display of electrotypes at the 1867 Paris Exhibition which proved to be extremely popular. This mace was part of the display.

The original mace was made by Thomas Maundy for the City of Gloucester in 1652. Maundy, under the supervision of Oliver Cromwell, designed a new mace for the House of Commons which so pleased Cromwell that he ordered “all other great Maces to be used in this Commonwealth to be made according to the same forme and patern.” And, so they did. Versions of this mace crop up all over the U.K. in various places and are still in use.