Search results for the tag 'jewellery'

Vol 44 no 4, Nov 2022
The Paris Exposition Universelle, the Suez Canal and a Gold Sphinx Brooch
By John Hawkins   |   November 2022   |   Vol 44 no 4

November 2022 marks the centenary of the discovery of the virtually intact tomb of King Tutankhamun, who reigned from about 1332 to 1323 BC. The pharaoh’s burial goods created a worldwide sensation focussed on ancient Egypt, which has long fascinated Europeans, partly because of its Biblical connections and p...

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Vol 44 no 3, Aug 2022
1950s souvenir jewellery and art with Indigenous motifs
By Christine Erratt   |   August 2022   |   Vol 44 no 3

Finding more examples of the silver brooch with Indigenous motifs that she discussed in our May issue, Christine Erratt delved further into their history. In the National Archives of Australia, Christine uncovered the 1954 design registration applications.
Six different designs, of which five were inspired b...

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Vol 44 no 3, Aug 2022
Splayds – ‘the runcible spoon that captivated the world’
By Yvonne Barber   |   August 2022   |   Vol 44 no 3

Invented in 1948 and manufactured 'from the early 1950s, Splades or Splayds were a favourite gift for shower teas, weddings and Mothers’ Day in 1960s and 1970s Australia. We were vaguely aware that they might be an Australian innovation, but that wasn’t part of their advertising – they were prom...

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Vol 44 no 2, May 2022
Indigenous motifs on a silver brooch
By Christine Erratt   |   May 2022   |   Vol 44 no 2

We often recognise Australiana by the presence of motifs depicting Australia’s unique flora and fauna and, especially in the 19th century, representations of Indigenous figures. Anthropologists studied Indigenous people, while the things they made – much of it, what we would describe today as art – were r...

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Vol 42 no 3, August 2020
An early Australian mourning brooch
By Gregory Street   |   August 2020   |   Vol 42 no 3

A gold mourning brooch to commemorate the passing of John Hillas in 1847 at Bannaby (or Bunnaby) near Taralga in southern tablelands of NSW is typical of the early Victorian era and many similar pieces come up for sale today (plates 1-2)1. Black enamel surrounds a central glass-covered locket that most likely w...

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Vol 41 no 2, May 2019
William Lamborn, gold rush jeweller in colonial Melbourne and his associations with Henry Leopold Wagner and Samuel Peck Woollett
By Jillian Dwyer   |   May 2019   |   Vol 41 no 2

Jillian Dwyer unravels the facts surrounding the place of William Lamborn in the triumvirate of Woollett, Wagner and Lamborn as Victorian gold rush jewellers, refines the dates of their operations, maps the emergence of Lamborn & Wagner as “one of the earliest firms of manufacturing jewellers in Australia,”...

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Vol 40 no 4, Nov 2018
Thomas Wright, Geelong colonial silversmith and jeweller
By Geoff Laurenson   |   November 2018   |   Vol 40 no 4

Thomas Wright (c.1827–1912) may not be a well-known name today, but in early Geelong his shop was a mainstay. As with many other silversmiths and jewellers, little of his work survives, so his name rarely comes up in publications. The recent discovery of a Thomas Wright silver trowel in the Geelong Grammar Sc...

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Vol 40 no 3, Aug 2018
Moreton Bay pearls in Australian jewellery
By David Bedford   |   August 2018   |   Vol 40 no 3

Australian colonial artists sought to use local materials and to appropriate local motifs in their artworks for several reasons: to reflect the Australian origin of their work, to distinguish it from the art of other nations, and to foster a stronger sense of connection with the country. Moreton Bay pearls are ...

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Vol 40 no 2, May 2018
Of frogs, gold bracelets, opals, ladies and queens
By John Hawkins   |   May 2018   |   Vol 40 no 2

John Hawkins speculates about the origin of a massive gold bracelet with cast and chased decoration, mounted with polished Queensland boulder opal, and its possible connections with the colourful discoverers and promoters of late 19th century and early 20th century Queensland opals.

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Vol 38 no 3, Aug 2016
Memories of the South Australian jewellery trade
By Leonard Wilton Peterson   |   August 2016   |   Vol 38 no 3

Len Peterson (1904–1981) began working at Adelaide jewellers S. Schlank & Co in 1919, and was closely associated with them until they closed in 1970. This is an edited version of his reminiscences, compiled between 1976 and 1980 for the Goldsmiths Guild of SA, giving an insight into the 20th-century Australia...

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Vol 38 no 2, May 2016
Bling: 19th century goldfields jewellery
By Anne Schofield   |   May 2016   |   Vol 38 no 2

Jewellery dealer Anne Schofield, who performed the official opening of the exhibition Bling: 19th century goldfields jewellery at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Ballarat on 16 April, kindly let us publish her address.

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Vol 38 no 2, May 2016
George Richard Addis, watchmaker and jeweller: his Victorian and Tasmanian years
By Michel Reymond   |   May 2016   |   Vol 38 no 2

George Richard Addis (1864–1937) is best known as one of Western Australia’s leading late 19th- and early 20th-century goldfields jewellers, whose Western Australian work has been documented by Dorothy Erickson.1 Many jewellers however worked in different colonies, and here Michel Reymond records for the fi...

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Vol 38 no 1, Feb 2016
Lady Bowen's Irish harp brooch - a Queensland colonial treasure rediscovered
By Dianne Byrne   |   February 2016   |   Vol 38 no 1

In our May 2015 issue, Dianne Byrne identified a brooch presented in 1867 to Lady Bowen, wife of Queensland’s first Governor, in a photograph held in the National Library. Further detective work has revealed that the brooch is still held by Lady Bowen’s descendants in England. We illustrate it now for the f...

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Vol 37 no 2, May 2015
Lady Bowen's Irish harp brooch - a missing piece of Queensland colonial jewellery
By Dianne Byrne   |   May 2015   |   Vol 37 no 2

The practice of presenting diplomatic gifts to dignitaries goes back to antiquity. As the much-admired wife of the governor of the colonies of Queensland, New Zealand and Victoria, Diamantina, Lady Bowen received some significant pieces of jewellery and metalwork. These gifts were frequently, and often fulsomel...

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Vol 37 no 2, May 2015
Finding Firnhaber treasures
By Trevor Hancock   |   May 2015   |   Vol 37 no 2

Colonial Australian jewellery is rarely marked with the name of its maker or retailer. Perth jewellery dealer Trevor Hancock sticks his neck out and attributes several pieces to the German-born Adelaide jeweller C. E. Firnhaber, based on stylistic similarities of the works. All of them are illustrated here.

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Vol 37 no 1, February 2015
Book Review: Jewels on Queen
By John Wade   |   February 2015   |   Vol 37 no 1

In 1970, Anne Schofield opened the first shop in Australia dealing exclusively in antique jewellery (in Queen Street, Woollahra, hence the book title) and has been dealing from there ever since. She is well-known from her appearances at fairs and in the media, for her support foreword which introduces the reade...

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Vol 36 no 4, November 2014
Gold Rush jewellers of Melbourne and Dunedin: Wagner & Woollett, Lamborn & Wagner and Wollett and Hewitt
By Michel Reymond   |   November 2014   |   Vol 36 no 4

Jewellers William Lamborn, Leopold Wagner and Samuel Woollett all arrived at Melbourne in the first few years after the discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851. Recent research has uncovered new information on these jewellers and their firms – Wagner & Woollett, Lamborn & Wagner and Woollett & Hewitt. The new i...

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Vol 36 no 4, November 2014
A Fine Possession: jewellery and identity, Powerhouse Museum Sydney
By Dorothy Erickson   |   November 2014   |   Vol 36 no 4

This spectacular exhibition of jewellery spanning cultures and millennia is billed as the most ambitious jewellery exhibition the Powerhouse Museum (part of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences) has ever staged. With 700 exhibits drawn from public and private collections across Australia, it takes several vi...

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Vol 35 no 4, November 2013
Jewellery is for giving
By John Wade   |   November 2013   |   Vol 35 no 4

Collectors and Australiana Society members Graham and Elizabeth Cocks will be remembered by a collection of Arts and Crafts jewellery, generously given by their daughters to the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Powerhouse Museum.

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Vol 35 no 3, August 2013
Vol 35 no 1, February 2013
Vol 34 no 2, May 2012
Vol 33 no 4, November 2011
Vol 33 no 3, August 2011
Goldfields jewellery
By Glenn R Cooke   |   August 2011   |   Vol 33 no 3

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Vol 30 No 3, August 2008
Vol 26 No 3, August 2004
Vol 25 No 3, August 2003
Vol 18 No 1, February 1996
Vol 16 No 2, May 1994
Vol 15 No 2, May 1993
Vol 15 No 2, May 1993
Vol 15 No 1, February 1993
Vol 14 No 3, August 1992
Vol 14 No 3, August 1992
Vol 14 No 2, May 1992
Vol 14 No 2, May 1992
Vol 14 No 2, May 1992
Vol 13 No 4, November 1991
Vol 13 No 4, November 1991
Heraldry on Australiana
By Brian Eggleton   |   November 1991   |   Vol 13 No 4

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Vol 13 No 3, August 1991
Vol 13 No 2, May 1991
Vol 13 No 1, February 1991
Vol 13 No 1, February 1991
Vol 12 No 4, November 1990
Vol 12 No 3, August 1990
Vol 11 no 3, Aug 1989
Vol 11 no 3, Aug 1989
Vol 11 no 2, Jun 1989
Vol 11 no 1, Feb 1989
Vol 10 no 4, Nov 1988
The Australiana Society acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.