The 19th century mayor's mace a museum is raising money to buy

An antique mace once used by the county town’s mayor in the early 1800s has been discovered on sale via Facebook marketplace, with Haverfordwest town museum now eager to raise the £425 they need to buy it.

“This would be a really nice addition to our collection and we are very grateful the vendor has given the museum time to raise the funds to buy it,” said museum curator Simon Hancock.

The mace was advertised for sale at £445 on Facebook by Angela Colella, whose brother bought it from an antiques dealer.

The town museum contacted Angela, who agreed to give it the opportunity to buy it and put it on display.

An initial donation of £20 helped towards the price of the mace.

Mr Hancock believes the mace once belonged to well-known Haverfordwest antique dealer Gerald Oliver, who kept a shop on St Thomas’ Green and was a founding member of the town’s civic society.

According to an engraving on the brass knob at the top of the mace, the owner was James Higgon, who was mayor of Haverfordwest in 1827 and 1838.

“The Higgons were an old gentry family, and the first of them was mayor in 1711,” said Mr Hancock.

Members of the Higgon family served in many important local roles including four High Sheriffs of Pembrokeshire, and Scolton Manor was built for the family between 1840 and 1842.

“This is a really interesting artefact from the reign of George IV,” said Mr Hancock, “we are hoping people will come forward to help us raise the purchase price.”

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise money to buy the mace.