Collection: Norfolk Mace

When held by Norfolk’s mayor at public ceremonies, the Norfolk Mace signified that his colonial office was an extension of the British Crown’s prestige and power. One of London’s finest silversmiths designed the elaborate scepter, and Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor presented it to the city in 1753. Though decorated with King George II’s coat of arms, the mace became a focus of local civic pride, and it has been guarded fiercely whenever war or fire threatened Norfolk. Today it is the only municipal mace in the United States in the possession of the city for which it was commissioned.