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

NOTES 1 John Wade is Sponsorship Manager at the Australian National Maritime Museum, President of The Australiana Society and editor of the journal Australiana. 2 Edition Hetzel, Chapitre XIV. "Les mines du Mont Alexandre." (Collection Hetzel: Les Voyages Extraordinaires couronnés par l'Académie Française. Paris, Librairie Hachette, 79, Boulevard Saint-Germaine, 79.) p. 43. 3 Inv. No. 64.198. The measurements of the ring are as follows. Height: 34.5 mm; width: 32 mm; inner diameter of hoop: 22.5 mm; greatest width of the bezel: 28 mm. The purity of the gold is 975%c. 4 We are grateful to Mr Gábor Juhász, restorer at the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, for pointing out the almost invisible compartments of the ring, for technical analysis and for assistance with communication via the Internet. 5 Visitors of the Museum of Applied Arts were able to see the ring on two occasions. It was first on display shortly after its acquisition on 21 and 28 May 1967 at the events entitled "Ékszervasárnapok" (Jewel Sundays) organised by Angéla Héjj-Détári. The leporelló (brochure) accompanying the exhibition gave a description of the piece (Case No. VI). Then it was displayed at the exhibition "Periods in European Decorative Arts - Revival Styles in the Nineteenth Century". The object appears at No. 455 in the catalogue of the same title. 6 Launched and managed by the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and Sovereign Hill, Ballarat the "Gold 150 Project" (Celebrating 150 Years of Australian Gold Rush History) includes the exhibition Australian Gold: The Rush to Riches at the Gold Museum, Sovereign Hill, Ballarat; see www.anmm.gov.au/gold 150. Another exhibition Gold and Civilisation was shown at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, then at the Melbourne Museum in 2001, accompanied by a book of the same name. 7 E.g. in 1823 government surveyor James McBrien filed a report on gold found in the Fish River, New South Wales. In 1839, Sir Paul Edmund de Strezlecki found gold near Hartley in the same colony, but did not make his discovery public before 1854. In 1841, an amateur geologist, the Reverend W.B. Clarke struck gold at Cox's River, but was dissuaded by Governor Gipps from making the find public. William and James Tom and their friend John Lister also claimed primacy; their claim was recognised by the Court in 1891. 8 Earlier it was one of the districts of New South Wales by the name of Port Phillip. A Law enacted in August 1850 created a separate Colony of Victoria on 1 July 1851. 9 The award was divided among several discoverers, including Hargraves and the Reverend W. B. Clarke. 10 Alluvial, secondary, or "placer" gold is the term used to describe silt deposits formed of the eroded material of alluvial rock containing gold veins. Gold ore can be obtained from this silt by dredging or washing in a "rocker cradle". 11 The find weighed 2,217 oz. 12 The site, located by the Ballarat Historical Society in 1934, is marked by a granite obelisk today. 13 John Hawkins, "Julius Hogarth: Behind the Shopfront. Part 1 : The First Bankruptcy," Australiana, 22.2 (May 2000), pp. 36-50 (hereafter: Hawkins 2000), p. 36; Julius Hogarth, Gold and Civilisation, Art Exhibitions Australia, Sydney & National Museum of Australia, Canberra 2001, pp. 92-93. 14 Gold brooch decorated with Australian plants, ca. 1858-1861. Inv. No. A6486. Gold bracelet consisting of links decorated with figures of the Australian flora and fauna. Inv. No. 97/225/1. For pictures of both see Hawkins 2000, pp. 36, 37. 15 See Allgemeine Zeitung (Augsburg), 5 June 1860, No. 157, p. 2616. Quoted in John Fletcher, "John Degotardi, Printer, Publisher and Photographer," Sydney, Book Collectors Society of Australia, Studies in Australian Bibliography no. 25, 1984 p. 51; J. B. Hawkins, "Nineteenth Century Silver," 1990 vol. I, p. 133. 16 J.B. Waring, Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture at the International Exhibition 1862, pi. 292. 17 For extant pieces from the workshop see Hawkins 1990, vol. II, pp. 266, 271,272. 18 See Hawkins 1990, vol. I, p. 335. 19 E.g. Lola Montez (1818-1861), artiste and dancer visited Australia in 1855-56. On her return to America, she sold the gold jewellery she had received as presents at an auction in San Francisco. More than five thousand people looked at the 89 items, including gold nuggets and" massive Australian gold jewelry" (bracelets, brooches, etc.), at Duncan's auction rooms. 20 Dr. Karl von Scherzer, Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde, in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859, I-II, (Vienna: Druck und Verlag von Carl Gerold's Sohn (hereafter: Scherzer 1866). 21 Participants of the expedition met these persons in Sydney: Sir William Denison, governor. Sir Daniel Cooper. Alfred Denison, Sir William Macarthur. William Macleay, botanist, Dr. George Bennett, zoologist, Francis L. Merewether, Vice-Provost of the University, the Reverend L. E. Threlkeld, missionary, the Reverend Dr. John Dunmore Lang, Edward Hill, Charles Moore, director of the BotanicGardens, George French Angas, secretary of the Australian Museum, Walter Scott, M. P., John Degotardi, publisher, printer, Stuart Alexander Donaldson, H. L. Schräder, the Reverend W. B. Clarke, geologist, Wilhelm Kirchner, Prussian Consul, William Keene, geologist. (Scherzer 1866 /II/ appendix IV , p. 4). 22 Scherzer 1866

/II/

p. 204. 23 Encyclopaedia Hungarica, I-IV, ed. László Bagossy (Calgary: 1994), vol. II, p. 701. 24 Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh was the fourth child of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-1861) (the second-bom son after the later Edward VII). He and his wife Mary (died in 1920), daughter of Czar Alexander II had a daughter named for the mother, who later married Ferdinand King of Rumania (1865-