At the Exeter Spread Eagle Club’s 2017 AGM, members were shown a Golden Spread Eagle which had been recovered from a skip when builders renovated Exeter High Street branch. This Spread Eagle resurfaced after many years after having been carefully stored in the garage of Dave Burgess, an ex-Messenger.
It was brought to the meeting by Doug Drysdale, who formerly worked there, and he remembered seeing it at that Branch. This impressive Eagle, made of cast iron, weighs 24lbs including its bracketed base, and is 24 inches high and has wings both front and back.
The magnificent Eagle bears no date marks or mould markings, and was not designed to hang on a wall but to be viewed from all sides, hence it stood on a plinth high above the centre of the round banking hall near the ceiling.
The body of the current Barclays Bank Black Spread Eagle is painted black, with three silver crowns lying over a red base, it has a red tongue, black eye and red claws but this Golden Eagle differs since the front was painted gold with three silver crowns and the entire rear had painted gold wings but without any crowns.
Examination of the Eagle reveals that it had been the hand painted, that the gold paint had been applied over a red oxide base paint and that at no stage had any other colours been applied to either the front or back.
Observant viewers will also notice that this Golden Eagle has its legs splayed inwards and that the Eagle’s wings are in a take off position, rather than being spread out.
Photographs of branches may be seen on the www.archive.barclays.com archive web site and one photograph shows the interior of the High Street Exeter branch around 1956 with a wall mounted eagle which could have been painted gold or made out of aluminium but this Eagle is no longer there.
Also showing on this web site is a 1956 photograph of the exterior depicting three stone coloured Eagles, one of which is a different design to the other two, and in the centre there is a small plaque bearing the black Spread Eagle emblem and these are still in place today, but have now been joined by the Bank’s new small blue Eagle emblem.
It was in 1728, when Freame (the founder of Barclays) moved to the Bank’s present site at 54 Lombard Street, that the sign of the black Spread Eagle was displayed.
In the 1930’s Barclays sought and obtained a Grant of Arms. The Bank naturally wanted to keep the Eagle it had used for so long but because other ancient and royal houses carried it in various forms, the College of Arms ruled it must be “differenced”. This was done by adding three silver crowns (since numbers 43 and 55 both part of the Head Office site bore the signs of the three crowns and the three kings), and the Grant of Arms was accordingly made in 1937.
In 1926 the first edition of the Barclays Staff magazine was published which was known as the “The Spread Eagle”. The editorial states that “for purposes of brevity the word ‘Black’ has been omitted from the title of the magazine”.
However, it was not until December 1948 that the Eagle emblem first appeared in the Bank’s annual report and accounts.
‘Barclays blue’ colour was gradually introduced during the 1960’s and was made official in May 1970. In 2004 the Bank’s blue emblem designed in 1999 was refreshed and involved a simpler style of Eagle and a Golden Eagle is now not in keeping with the Bank’s corporate image.
Whether this Golden Eagle is now the sole one in existence is not known but if any others exist in branches they could only be seen near the dome of a round banking hall as they were only designed for this purpose. Since this Eagle was made many years ago and with the changes recently made to the Bank’s new logo, it is very likely that the original mould has been destroyed. Because of the weight of the cast-iron Golden Eagle, which had to be attached to a large bracketed base to carry the weight, and the steel work required to support it high above the public, it seems very unlikely that any other Golden Eagles could or would be displayed in that way. Unfortunately this impressive Golden Eagle made many years ago would not pass today’s stringent Health and Safety regulations as it should not be exhibited or stand directly above the heads of the public as it was intended to be.
It was after the end of the March 2017 AGM of the Exeter Spread Eagle Club that Garry Adams, the Chairman, handed over the Golden Eagle to Mick Mabbutt, a member of the Exeter Club, and his wife Sandra, who agreed to look after the Golden Eagle and give it a new home.
It is currently being restored to its former glory and Mick Mabbutt has sought advice from Wilsons Paints of Exmouth who, since 2004, have had a Royal Warrant as supplier of Coach Paints to Her Majesty. The newly restored Golden Eagle will be on view to members at the Exeter Spread Eagle’s Club’s 2018 Annual General Meeting.
Mick Mabbutt
Mick has now made replicas of the Golden Eagle and these may be purchased from him. If you are interested contact Mick on mmabbutt@tiscali.co.uk
