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

made, among other things, "colonial gold jewellery, with inscriptions made to order". Listed in the Melbourne Directories of Sands & Kenny and Sands & McDougall as a "Watchmaker and Jeweller", Elder worked at 63 Bourke Street between 1858 and 1876.

17 The man was the proprietor of the workshop where he probably employed masters mainly from Germany and elsewhere in Europe, people who came to Australia to try their luck and then returned to their original jobs (as had happened for example in Sydney from 1853 with the Hungarianbom Adolphus Blau, who advertised employing German craftsmen from the diggings.) Henry Elsas (Elias?) was bom in Prussia in 1827. Trained as an engraver, jeweller and silversmith, he worked in Sandhurst (Bendigo) in the 1850s in partnership with the Danish-born silversmith Christian Ludwig Qwist (18181877).

18 One of the most intriguing questions about the ring in the possession of the Museum of Applied Arts is its provenance. Visitors travelling to Australia at the time (with several notables among their number) often returned to their homes in Europe or America with unique golden objects as souvenirs.

19 These pieces are mostly held in private collections today. As our ring was acquired in 1964 from a large stateowned company selling second-hand goods, called Bizományi Áruház Vállalat (the Trading Company for Antiquities), no relevant data are available, and thus the two events described below can only be suggested as hypothetical descriptions how the piece examined here was made and then conveyed to Hungary. Converted for the purpose, the Austrian Navy's frigate Novara, a 42-gunner, was launched on a two-year global expedition proposed by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1857. The ship dropped anchor in Sydney Harbour in 1858 (pictures 11-12). Led by Karl Scherzer, the expedition returned to Trieste with thousands of zoological, botanical and ethnographical rarities, a collection which was then deposited in the Museum of Natural History (Naturhistorisches Museum) in Vienna. Several bulky tomes were filled with the experiences of the scientists belonging to various disciplines. Scherzer himself summed up the most interesting adventures of the circumnavigation in two volumes for the general public.

20 During their brief stay in Sydney (between 5 November and 7 December), the members of the expedition met, among others, the abovementioned John Degotardi,

21 who published a report on the Novara in the 6 November 1858 issue of his paper.

22 Although there were no Hungarians among the scientists, the crew included several men from Hungary. First mate Béla Gaál, ensign Ernő Jakoby, cadets Kálmán Kalmár, Mihály Máriássy and Gusztáv Semsey, or the ship's surgeon Ede Schwarz

23 may well have brought Australian gold home as a souvenir. Particularly relevant to the case of our unique piece with the gold nuggets is the exciting contemporary coverage given in the local press to a royal visit. Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh ( 18441900)

24 circumnavigated the world as captain of HMS Galatea. During his five-year cruise between 1867 and 1871, the Prince put in at Australia on as many as three occasions (186768,1869,1870-71) (picture 13).

25 As he was the first representative of royalty to pay a formal visit to the continent, Alfred's stay attracted particularly great attention. He visited both Sydney and Melbourne in the course of his first, official, and his other two, informal, calls alike. It is mentioned more than once in the contemporary press coverage that on the occasion of his visit to Bendigo (Sandhurst) the Prince was presented with a golden ring made by a local jeweller Joseph & Co. It was "faced by a shield of the Royal Standard (the British Royal Flag) finely engraved and when touched the lid was thrown back by a spring, revealing tiny boxes containing specimens of gold marked with the names of the various districts from which the gold originated. The acceptance of this ring gained for Joseph & Co. the Royal Warrant and Letters Patent."

26 On his return to England, Alfred displayed the various gifts he received during his cruise at an exhibition held at the South Kensington Museum (picture 14).

27 Most