A cast bronze parrot of Hatherton

Many of you will know that I have in my possession a copper medal of the Walgherton Female Friendly Society, c. 1840 where upon the obverse are illustrated the arms of John Twemlow. I continue to seek details of this friendly society without much success however today I stumbled upon another curiosity demonstrating that John Twemlow was not shy about the use of his armorial bearings.

The British Museum has in its possession a rather novel armorial paperweight (Museum number 2003,0331.40). Unfortunately this item is not illustrated and although I would dearly love to see it, at a cost of over £60 to commission a photograph I think that I will have to give it a miss.

The object is described as a cast bronze parrot with raised wings, standing on an oval base with and supporting a shield with coat of arms and motto on a scroll below, which reads: TENEO TENVERE MAJORES. The parrot has a crown round its neck form which hangs a chain attached to the base. Round the edge of the base, the inscription: *PRESENTED TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM BY JOHN TWEMLOW ESQR OF HATHERTON CHESHIRE 1835. Possibly for use as a paperweight.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3005920&partId=1