Special gifts presented to York city art gallery and the Mansion House in the 1920s by a wealthy American have become damaged or lost.

Mary Collings at the Mansion House, in York, where the tapestry given to the city by her relative was thought to have been kept

Now, surviving relative Mary Deacon Collings, 74, of Chelmsford Road, Harrogate, is concerned about the state and handling of other people's gifts to the city.

Lily Forepaugh, who was the cousin of Mrs Collings' grandmother, often visited York as it was her father's birthplace.

In 1925, as a token of her affection for the city, she presented the art gallery with a valuable hand-painted, china fish plate set.

Stored, but never displayed, two of the pieces have received some damage, but it is not known with any certainty when or how.

In 1927, Mrs Forepaugh, also donated a panel of needlework decorated with gold thread and beetles' wings, to the gallery. It was then passed to the then Lady Mayoress for exhibition in the Mansion House.

Years later, Mrs Collings tried to locate the needlework, but following investigation by the city archivist, it was said to have been lost.

Mrs Collings said: "If this can happen to me, it can happen to other people's gifts. The fact the fish plates have never seen the light of day is an insult. They should have found somewhere to display them at least once.

"When I tried to track down the needlework I was told it had just disappeared. It's not contained in any Mansion House records. "

City archivist Rita Freedman said: "It's a real mystery. The needlework should have appeared in the Mansion House inventory but it never did. It's a possibility that the Lady Mayoress assumed it was a personal gift and took it with her. I want to assure people that these days gifts to the city are very well looked after."

Richard Green, city art gallery curator, has found no record of the needlework panel returning to the premises.

He said: There's a possibility that it just disintegrated because it was made out of beetle wings.

"As for the fish plates, there are no immediate plans to exhibit them, but they are now safely stored and wrapped in acid-free tissue paper." He added that the plates may have been damaged when the gallery building received a hit from an incendiary bomb during the Second World War. A diamond-studded chalice presented to York Minister in 1925 by Mrs Forepaugh, is still used on special occasions.

Mrs Collings said: "It's a shame the other gifts have not been looked after as well as the Minster chalice."

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