A jewellery company founded in 1827 which holds the Queen’s royal warrant has been chosen to design Marlborough’s new Mayoral chain to replace the 18 carat gold one stolen last October.
Thomas Fattorini, based in Birmingham’s renowned Jewellery Quarter, has been given the task following a special meeting of Marlborough Town Council in secret session on Monday.
It is one of two specialist jewellers visited by councillors before deciding which to invite for the task using the £96,550 insurance payout the council received from its insurers for the theft of the existing chain.
The beautiful original, said to be the finest in Wiltshire, was decorated with 18 elaborate enamelled medallions set with amethysts and other semi-precious stones and was worn by Mayor Thomas Free in 1911.
Councillors agreed to seek a replacement chain incorporating Marlborough’s current Coat of Arms but also to including some modern design in the links — and the use of white gold greyhounds, the town’s symbol.
But it was by no means a unanimous decision, the vote being 11 to three in favour of jewellers Thomas Fattorini, Councillor Nick Fogg, twice Mayor of the town, voting against along with Councillors Margaret Rose and Bryan Castle.
“I am not knocking the firm chosen but it was very disappointing that the Town Council didn’t declare a design brief for the new chain in the first place and said they wanted a chain most like the old one,” he told Marlborough News Online.
“There were two independent goldsmiths who produced exquisite designs, one of them having done a lot of work on the history of Marlborough and incorporated it in his design. They needn’t have wasted their time if the council had said at the start that they wanted the traditional design.”
The Fattorini company was founded in 1827 by Antonio Fattorini, an Italian-speaking immigrant who settled initially in Yorkshire, where he established a number of retail outlets specialising in jewellery, watches and fancy goods including barometers.
One of the branches subsequently set up a factory in Birmingham to take advantage of the demand for medals and badges for Football Association teams and other sports clubs, and it has gone on to produce a whole range of jewellery – from ceremonial swords to museum replicas – for countries round the world.
And its current managing director is Greg Fattorini, the sixth generation of the Fattorini family to run the company.
Michael Moore, sales manager for Thomas Fattorini, told Marlborough News Online: “We are delighted to be involved with such a prestigious and exciting project.
“The theft of the original chain and the loss of its provenance, gained by over 100 years service, clearly will have been a significant loss for the council and community.
Thomas Fattorini Ltd represents a ‘safe pair of hands’ for a project of this complexity, as our experience in crafting fine regalia is unrivalled and we feel certain that the newly commissioned chain will provide the town of Marlborough with an exquisite chain of office that will be a source of pride for the community for generations to come.”
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