Bahamas Philately: 1968 14th Parliamentary Conference – 10c Bahamas Mace with Big Ben

The Bahamas Mace, the symbol of parliamentary authority, is 165 years old. On a day that became historic, April 27, 1965, a Progressive Liberal Party member was expelled from the House of Assembly for talking too long during a debate. In a dramatic move “to show we are not afraid” the then Leader of the Opposition PLP Party, Mr. Lynden O. Pindling, now Premier of the Bahamas, picked up the gold mace and declared that since there was no law in the Assembly, the mace should be turned back to the people, who had delegated their power to the legislator. He threw the mace out of the window and strode with his colleagues, out of the chamber. That day is known in the Bahamas as “Black Tuesday.” The badly damaged mace was repaired in the U.K. and later returned to the Assembly.

With London’s famed Big Ben, it appears on the ten cent (.10c) denomination of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association special stamp issue.