After visits to two specialist jewellers, Marlborough town councillors will make a final decision in secret session tomorrow (Monday) whether to order a replica or modern mayoral chain to replace the 18 carat gold chain, said to be the finest in Wiltshire, which was stolen last October.
And after visits to two specialist jewellers and insignia makers they will have to decide which one to invite for the project using the £96,550 payout the council has received from its insurers.
This sum cannot be used for any other purpose, councillors were told last month, when there was a division of opinion as to the design of a new chain.
The beautiful original, taken from the mayor’s parlour by thieves who gained access to the Town Hall through an underground trapdoor, was decorated with 18 elaborate enamelled medallions set with amethysts and other semi-precious stones.
And the chain, first worn by six times Mayor Thomas Free in 1911, recognised Marlborough’s birth as a borough in its own right in AD 1204.
“It is something that was made at that time reflecting that time,” Guy Loosmore, the current Mayor, told councillors last month. “I think to completely throw that out and to have something really different is not what we are about or should be about. Our historical context is important to us as a town.”
Former Mayor Councillor Alexander Kirk Wilson said: “Ideally, I would like to see a modern piece but of considerable complexity with a lot of detail on it just like the previous chain, which matches the 18th century flummery of robes and lace with which the office is adorned.”
And twice former Mayor Councillor Nick Fogg claimed it was a “golden opportunity” for a competition to be held to design a new chain “creating a work of art of great value.”
Since then, the council has received a letter from former Mayor David Chandler stressing “the importance of having a like for like replacement” reflecting as close as possible the original chain, of which the council was “custodian rather than owner.”
Whatever is decided, town clerk Shelley Parker has revealed that it will take four to five months to produce a new Marlborough chain.
