Gift From City

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31042, 23 April 1966, Page 1

Gift From City

A brooch made by Mr J. H. Black, of Bryndwr, to his design, will be presented to the Queen Mother on behalf of the citizens of Christchurch during the public welcome in Victoria square today.

The brooch, two inches and a half by an inch and a quarter, is an elliptical piece of specially-selected and highly-polished West Coast greenstone with a perimeter mount of 18-carat red gold and white palladium. The greenstone is deep in the middle with a delicate taper to the perimeter, which is interrupted by four “bays” diagonally opposite one another. The broad greenstone area represents the broad areas of the Canterbury Plains, and the indentations bays on the coastline. Inset into the bays are alternately the English wild rose and the New Zealand native fern, both in palladium. They are connected by the continuous mount.

The brooch, which represents many hours of painstaking work, is in a 6in by 4|in box, covered with dark green leather embossed in 22carat gold with the arms of the city. The brooch itself

is mounted on a pale-coloured peridot cushion surrounded by white piping. The hinged lid is covered inside with white satin, which carries in 22-carat gold the city crest and the inscription, “From the citizens of Christchurch, New Zealand, April, 1966.”