LONDON.- Museum of London needs the public’s help to find the current owner of the original agreement commissioning the ‘grand State Coach’ of the Lord Mayor of London. Archive records show that a copy of the agreement was made in 1958, the whereabouts of the original agreement and its owner since then remains a mystery. Museum of London is appealing to the public for help in finding the agreement in time for an international conference on ceremonial coaches at the Museum in November 2009.

The Coach was designed by Sir Robert Taylor and was commissioned through an ‘article of agreement’ between the Alderman of the City of London and Joseph Berry of Leather Lane, London for the princely sum of £860 in 1757.

According to notes held together with a copy of the agreement at the London Metropolitan Archive, the original was in the possession of a Mr P.K Glover Esquire in 1958. Research suggests that Mr Glover comes from a long line of 18th and 19th century coach makers based in Tottenham, London and that family descendants subsequently moved from London to Farnham in Buckinghamshire. These are the last known whereabouts of Mr Glover and the agreement and we are appealing to the public for help with information.

The Lord Mayor’s Coach is one of the Museum’s star exhibits and has long been a recognisable symbol of The City to both Londoners and visitors. The coach is admired by thousands on the streets of the City of London each November as it takes pride of place in the annual Lord Mayor’s Show. It is widely renowned for its opulence and unique craftsmanship which is detailed in the agreement, ‘gilt with gold…both the body carriage and wheels…seat cloth with best belladine silk trimmings’.

The stunning carriage will have a spectacular new home in a purpose built glass-fronted gallery, making it the Museum’s only exhibit to be on 24 hour display, as part of the £20 million redevelopment project opening in spring 2010.

Beatrice Behlen, Curator of Fashion and Decorative Arts at Museum of London says, ‘It would be absolutely wonderful to display the original “articles of agreement” with the Lord Mayor’s Coach, or at least to know that it is in safe hands. Many new documents relating to the Coach have recently come to light, and finding the original order would be the icing on the cake’.