Nostalgic jewellery

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 12

Nostalgic jewellery

Collecting

with

Myrtle Duff

Tonight, Derek Cockbum, a local craftsman-jeweller, will talk to members of the Canterbury Antique Collectors’ Club about antique jewellery, a subject with appeal for almost everybody.

People have been adorning their persons with what we now call jewellery, whether or not it contains precious stones, since the beginning of history, using whatever was available from seeds, bones and shells to diamonds, rubies, gold and silver.

It has always been greatly valued, and has often indicated the status of the wearer, as does a crown or other regalia. Probably because it was so closely associated with the body, even jewellery worn purely for decoration acquired a special mana. It was either buried with the owner, or treasured by descendants. So we may now inspect quite ancient pieces carefully preserved and exhibited in museums and art galleries. Closer to home, and more readily available, is a great variety of jewellery worn by New Zealanders during Victorian times, and since.

All antique shops, and some jewellers, have stocks of old pieces for sale. At McCrostie’s fortieth Fine Art Auction last Thursday, 30 of the 570 lots offered were of jewellery, watches, and medallions.

There is old jewellery about to suit all tastes, and most pockets.

There seems to be something special about antique jewellery which has been worn and cherished by someone in the past, perhaps because so much of it was given and received as a token of love.

However, it may be frail. If your old jewels are to be kept purely as collectors’ pieces you may enjoy the luxury of leaving them exactly as you found them. But if you cannot resist wearing your favourites from time to time, it is a good idea to have them inspected by a skilled craftsman who will restore them faithfully. Gold does grow thin with wearing, catches become loose, and settings for precious stones may be insecure. Scottish jewellery seems to be greatly favoured by young people at present and, thanks to the popularity of everything Scottish

A women’s magazine in 1867 reported, “Scotch jewellery as well as Scotch costume” to be “de rigeur.” These sentiments were transplanted to New Zealand, where we are reputed to have more pipe bands than Scotland. A keen researcher should have little difficulty in finding brooches set with cairngorms, grouse claws mounted in silver, miniature dirks set with “Scotch pebbles,” and Luckenbooth brooches, named for the locked booths around the High Kirk of St. Giles, where silversmiths once carried out their trade. These consist of intertwined hearts, and were often an engagement gift. Believed to have magical properties, they were also worn by nursing mothers to stop witches stealing their milk or otherwise harming their babies.

The brooch of this type illustrated has the word “Mizpah,” inscribed as did much of the love token jewellery of the period. Usu-

during Victorian times, there are quite a few pieces about.

ally given when lovers were about to be parted for a time, the word originally referred to a watch tower. In this connection,, it refers to a cairn erected by Jacob and Laban in Old Testament days as a witness to the covenant sworn between them.

The words pronounced by them then have since become known as the Mizpah covenant. The word inscribed sentimentally on jewellery was meant as a permanent reminder to the separated lovers of their covenant with each other.

Most types of jewellery worn elsewhere in the Western world were brought to New Zealand, and may be found today. There are, also, some distinctively New Zealand pieces. The gold mounted greenstone pendant is an example, and the “Miner’s Brooch” is made from New Zealand gold. This consists of an arrow and a miner’s pick and shovel complete with tiny gold nugget indicating respectively romantic love and the labour which produced the gold.

This is the first I have seen here, but I well remember seeing one in a Sydney museum. It was made from gold mined in Bathurst, New South Walesa in 1852, and showed a miner complete with bucket and winch flanked on either side by crossed picks and shovels.

The ring illustrated is another example of the use of jewellery to express human feelings.

It is a mourning ring, a fine piece in 18 carat gold. A bow of plaited hair from the deceased is surrounded by a band of tiny pearls bordered with black enamel.

Mourning brooches were also popular. One was sold at the recent McCrostie’s auction for $35. Oval in shape, it was gold-lined, with the hair in the central panel surrounded by foilbacked imitation amethysts between the beads of a scalloped outer edge. The

reverse panel was engraved with the date, 24th. April, 1838.

Other jewellery, illustrated is also from local collection?, add includes a twin barred gold brooch with two,scrolls inset .with pearls; a gold bracelet with central amethyst and’small pearls; and a very rare, double gold, sovereign case.

Not quite jewellery perhaps, but it does have a ring inset at one end from which to suspend it — probably from a gentleman’s watch chain rather than a lady’s necklace. > '

There was a small locket too, sold at.the recent sale. These have always .been popular, especially in times of war or mass, migration.

They provide such an attractive and convenient way of' carrying close to one a personal reminder of absent spouse, lover,*or child.