Australian Historical Medals

Lot 1446    SESSION 5 (Wednesday 2.30pm)    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $1,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,800

MANCHESTER UNITY LODGE (BENDIGO) JEWEL, handmade in silver and enamel (51.2gms) (67mm x 57mm), by C.L Qvist, obverse with garnet set in gold surround and inscribed "Presented by the Officers and Bretheren of the Loyal/James Roe Lodge M.U. to John White P.G./as a Token of Merit" reverse inscribed "Presented/this 30th Day of December/1857". Very fine.

Christian Ludwig Qwist (Qvist)(1818-1877) has long been regarded as one of Australia's finest goldsmiths. He was born in Denmark in 1818 and came to Australia at the time of the gold rushes. From 1854 to 1860, he was working as a studio photographer and artist in Sandhurst (Bendigo). During this period he practised his craft as a goldsmith in McCrae Street, Bendigo. Detailed descriptions of presentation items, and of commissions that he undertook from 1856 to 1860, are to be found in the "Bendigo Advertiser". The "Advertiser" of 24 April 1857, described Qwist's workshop as follows: "...Many persons in the colonies are apt to imagine that no article of any consequence, especially of dress or jewellery, can be obtained or made so well and tastefully in a provincial town as in one of the great metropolitan cities, but a visit to the shop of Mr C.L. Qvist (sic) Jeweller, of McCrae Street, will speedily remove such scepticism... A visit to Mr Qvist's bijouterie will most likely satisfy the most fastidious that they need not go far out of Sandhurst to get jewels and other articles of adornment manufactured to their order." Most of Qwist's work was made in gold, befitting the goldfield town. Also in 1857, Qwist was commissioned to make the Seal of the Corporation of Sandhurst (Bendigo). Hawkins (1990) has queried whether Qwist had found both occupations necessary in order to maintain a reasonable standard of living. Qwist possibly sensed a different challenge in the pioneering field of photography in the 1850s. There is later evidence to suggest that Qwist was by no means "well off". C.L. Qwist was in Sydney by 1861, and in that year married Anna Price. Eventually Qwist worked in association with Hogarth during the period 1861 to 1863. By 1864, C.L. Qwist was established in his own workshop at 15 Hunter Street from 1864 to 1874. During this time he was listed as a manufacturing jeweller and goldsmith. Qwist's reputation as a goldsmith rests on the fine work produced in Bendigo, on the noteworthy Sydney Cups of 1869 and 1870, and on his silver mounted emu egg claret jugs (Hawkins 1990). The latter are to be seen in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Qwist's gold jewellery was displayed at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, and at the Sydney Exhibition of 1870. Regrettably, illustrations of this exhibition jewellery have not been sighted. In Paris, C.L. Qwist exhibited a brooch, a small brooch, a pair of earrings, two bracelets, a buckle and a pair of sleeve links. All were of 18 carat gold and bore "representations emblematical of New South Wales". In Sydney, in 1870, he exhibited "Jewellery and Ornaments in gold and silver". By 1875, the business was trading as Qwist and Clarke, jewellers and watchmakers, then at 17 Hunter Street. Unequivocally, this partnership involved Joseph Clarke of Darling Road, Balmain. The partnership continued until 1877, at which time they were listed as gold and silversmiths. Following Qwists death in the same year, Joseph Clarke traded as a jeweller and goldsmith at Darling Road, Balmain at least until 1882. (Reprinted from "Australian Jewellers Gold & Silversmiths", by K. Cavill, G. Cocks and J. Grace, with kind permission of C.G.C. Gold Pty Ltd, NSW.) This piece is an example of Qwist's early work in Bendigo and is significant in that it is signed "C.L.Qvist", rather than "C.L.Qwist", as on his later work. Qwist's Sydney gold racing cup won by "Mermaid" in 1871 held the world record for a piece of Australian gold or silver for many years after it was sold in 1994. A NSW silver agricultural medal (c.1865) by C.L. Qwist was sold in our auction in April 1999 (see Noble Numismatics, sale No.60, lot 999)