THE AUSTRALIAN GEMMOLOGIST | Antique Treble Clef Brooch – a Family Heirloom
Antique Treble Clef Brooch – a Family Heirloom
A small gold brooch, grain set with four seed pearls and five red faceted stones in the design of a Treble Clef was examined. The brooch measures 43mm x 17mm (Figure 1).
The red stones all had open backs which aided in polariscope observations. The hallmark is E. FISCHER 15 CT (Figure 2).
The largest red gem, a cushion shaped faceted stone, was singly refracting on the polariscope, greater than 1.81 on the refractometer, showed iron bands in the yellow and green regions of the spectrum through the spectroscope, and was inert under long wave ultraviolet (LWUV) light which all suggested garnet. The microscope confirmed this identification, with needles, colourless crystals and fingerprints being evident.
The four smaller faceted red stones however were doubly refracting on the polariscope and fluoresced red under LWUV. Twinning planes were seen in one stone and other natural inclusions indicated natural corundum variety ruby. The four seed pearls all fluoresced white under LWUV.
The hallmark was researched and it was discovered that Edward Fischer (1828-1911) migrated to Australia from Vienna in 1853 and by 1857 he had established a gold and silversmith business in Geelong, Victoria. By the 1870’s he was a well-known jeweller in Ryrie St, Geelong, employing seventeen workers. In 1891, he relocated to 190 Collins Street, Melbourne, where the business was then known as E. Fischer & Son, Manufacturing Jewellers, Watchmakers and Opticians. His sons, Harry Caspar and Edward Robert, managed the business until it closed in 1916.
Figure 1. Treble clef brooch measuring 43mm x 17mm. Photo courtesy of the author.
Figure 2. Hallmark E. FISCHER 15 CT. Photo courtesy of the author.
During the late nineteenth century Edward Fischer was responsible for most of the gold and silver sporting trophies in Victoria. In 1876 he was commissioned to manufacture the first locally produced Melbourne Cup (Melbourne Cup, 2024) in the Etruscan-style with two handles. One side depicted a horse race with the grandstand and hill of Flemington racecourse in the background; the reverse had the words “Melbourne Cup, 1876” and the name of the winning horse, Briseis, who was ridden by 13-year-old Peter St Albans, the youngest jockey to win the Melbourne Cup.
Edward Fischer produced the Geelong Racing Club Presentation Cups from 1873 to 1890 as well as Cups for the Geelong Yacht Club, Cricket and Volunteer Fire Brigade Trophies, and greyhound coursing and rowing awards. The Geelong Gallery has examples of his work, which also featured in Geelong’s Colonial Silversmiths Exhibition in 1988 (Geelong’s colonial silversmiths, 1988).
Various jewellery items by Edward Fischer are held by The National Gallery, and also listed in Carter’s Price Guides (Edward Fischer, n.d). This little gold brooch is a family heirloom, passed down through four generations, and is a small part of the history of Australian jewellery design and manufacture.
Figure 3. The first locally produced Melbourne Cup of 1876. Image courtesy of Torquay Museum Without Walls and reproduced with permission (Edward Fischer, 2019).
Acknowledgement
Thank you to Susan Stocklmayer for advice and assistance with gem identification.
References
Edward Fischer, 2019. Torquay Museum Without Walls. [online] Available at <https://www.torquayhistory.com/brief-history-of-torquay/people/edward-fischer/> [Accessed 16 May 2024].
Edward Fischer, no date. National Gallery of Australia. [online] Available at <https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/artist/14752/edward-fischer> [Accessed 16 May 2024].
Geelong’s colonial silversmiths, 1988. Geelong Art Gallery Inc. [online] Available at https://www.geelonggallery.org.au/cms_uploads/docs/1988_geelong-s-colonial-silversmiths_catalogue.pdf [Accessed 16 May 2024].
Melbourne Cup, 2024. Wikipedia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Cup> [Accessed 16 May 2024].