School & Education Awards

Lot 2160    Day 2    School & Education Awards

Estimate $300
Bid at live.noble.com.au

ST CLAIR, Dux, 1899, fob medal, handcrafted in silver with gold (35x30mm), English maker and hallmark, ring top suspension, obverse inscribed 'Dresden Coys/Prize', reverse inscribed 'St.Clair School/Dux/of S4 V/1899/May Mckay'. Extremely fine.

The Dresden Pianoforte Manufacturing & Agency Company had been established in Dunedin by David Theomin and Frederick Michaelis in 1883. Their premises, between the Octagon and Moray Place in Princes Street, included a music warehouse (for sale of instruments, sheet music etc), piano and organ showrooms, piano manufacturing workshops, a concert room, and rooms for professional music teachers. The company claimed that its Dunedin premises alone never held fewer than 200 to 250 large instruments, such as pianos, organs, and harmoniums. An innovative hire purchase scheme was hugely successful and by 1907 the Dresden had 258 employees, and branches or agencies in 60 towns throughout New Zealand.^^At the time of the First World War the name of the company was changed to the Bristol Piano Company.^^David Edward Theomin was a notable New Zealand merchant, philanthropist and collector. He established the well known historic house 'Olveston' in Dunedin c1902.^^Frederick Michaelis was his brother-in-law.