Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 20. (Budapest, 2001)

Ildikó PANDUR - John WADE: A Unique Piece of Jewellery in the Collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts: A Souvenir from the Colony of Victoria, Australia

Bendigo, Jim Crow, Ovens" (Ovens = Ovens Valley, Jim Crow = Daylesford). Each of these four names refers to a famous gold district in Victoria,

8 a colony that gained particular significance in the early 1850s. The Victorian Government offered a reward of £200 to anyone who found gold within 200 miles (320 kilometres) of Melbourne.

9 The first person to do so was James Esmond, who found gold at Clunes, in June 1851. Shortly after, gold was discovered at Ballarat, among other places, and, in December of the same year, at Bendigo (picture 7). Ballarat, a settlement whose name derives from the Aboriginal word denoting a place of rest (Ballá Arat), was founded by shepherds in 1838 by the Yarrowee River, and was raised to the status of "city" in 1870. Following the discovery of the alluvial gold field in 1851,

10 the town underwent rapid development. In December of 1854, Ballarat was the scene of the uprising known as the Eureka Stockade revolt, started by miners demanding reform (e.g. a more equitable system of licensing). It was also in Ballarat that the largest known gold nugget was discovered in 1858. Weighing more than sixty kilograms of pure gold, the "Welcome Nugget" was sold for £10,050." After it was shipped to London, the huge nugget was on display in the Crystal Palace for months. The piece was eventually purchased by the Royal Mint of London, where it was struck into sovereigns.

12 Mineshafts close to the surface were soon exhausted, but deep-working continued until 1918. Bendigo, originally called Sandhurst, was also established by shepherds - in 1840 and was recognised as a "city" in 1871 (picture 8). In 1860, nearly half (40 per cent) of all the gold mined in the world came from Australia. Of its mines, which were far richer than those in California, it was said that gold was lying around as pebbles on the beach, which prompted many people to try their luck on the southern continent (pictures 9-10). In the wake of the Gold Rush, the population of Victoria multiplied more than four times between 1851 and 1855. (The only people whose influx the authorities tried to limit, by charging immigration fees, were the Chinese.) It was a custom widespread among both miners returning to their home countries and visitors from Europe and America to take home souvenirs, often jewellery, made of Australian gold. These pieces were characterised by large size, and a massive, solid shape often featuring engraved inscriptions. They were mostly executed by goldsmiths trained in Europe. The piece kept in the Museum of Applied Arts is a man's ring of the weight and massiveness characteristic of jewellery made in Australia in the 1850s or 1860s. Its mark, the initials HE, could be connected to several Australian goldsmiths. Hogarth, Erichsen & Co. were prominent goldsmiths with these initials, opening a goldsmith's shop at 255 George Street, Sydney, hundreds of kilometres from Victoria in 1853 or 1854. Their workshop specialising in making jewellery, sculptures and presentation metalwork had been jointly established by Julius Hogarth (Hougaard), a Dane born in Copenhagen in 1821, and the Norwegian-bom Conrad Erichsen. As silversmiths both men had plenty of skill, but as businessman they were rather inexperienced, which is why their firm went bankrupt and then re-established more than once.

13 Several pieces of jewellery made in the shop in the 1850s are now in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

14 A unique object that came from in their workshop was an inkstand made from a cassowary egg and mounted on repoussé silver fem-leaves, ornamented on its top with the figure of a cassowary and its chicks. The work was given in 1860 as a gift to Alois Auer (1813-1869), the director of the Emperor's printing press in Vienna, by the Graz-born printer, photographer and publisher of the German-language journal Australische Zeitung John Degotardi.

15 Two animal figurines made by Julius Hogarth and displayed at the London International Exhibition of 1862 were inspired by the fauna of Australia. Both are mounted on malachite pedestals, one is a gold kangaroo, the other an emu.

16 Henry Elder worked in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. As his advertisement proclaimed, his workshop at 18 Collins Street West