One of the more unfortunate items sold at the 1848 sale was the St Mawes Mace, which was purchased by a dealer who outbid the St Mawes bidders. It shortly became the mace for the borough of Wolverhampton.

The Eighteenth Day’s Sale

Wednesday 6 September

Gilt Plate

455. The mace of St Mawes, surmounted by the crown—the cup of the mace only silver gilt: 22 oz. Town and Emanuel. £30 0s 0d. This mace was presented to the corporation of St Mawes by the late Duke of Buckingham, to whom the borough formerly belonged. On the disenfranchisement of St Mawes, the honest burgesses returned the mace to their patron, having no further use for the “bauble.” The Earl of Falmouth, and Sir Samuel Spry, the present owner of the borough, were among the competitors for the lot, but Mr. Emanuel outbid themselves, and became its possessor. Since its purchase, the ducal arms have been erased, and this emblem of municipal rights has now become the insignia of the newly acquired honours of the recently incorporated borough of Wolverhampton.