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2009-M

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2010

AUSTRALASIA’S ONLY BI-MONTHLY ANTIQUES AND COLLECTABLES MAGAZINE

9 771445 816006

ISSN 1445-8160

Aust $9.95 NZ $13.95

T R A D E R

91ST EDITION

Holiday EditionMore to read. More to collect

Collecting inQueenslandPlaces to see, collectables to buy

Ancient CraftsUsed in modern arts

A New Take on SilverYoung artisans - experimental,exciting and great to collect

Collectables Trader 3

feature articles

ancient arts updated6 Roman Glass: Combining history with art

Melody Amsel-Arieli20 Chinoiserie: European notions

of the Orient Matthew Martin

28 Contemporary UK silver Amanda Stücklin

58 Centuries of enamelling: Popular forms and functionsPaul Rosenberg

80 Biblical blue dyeing techniquesrediscovered Melody Amsel-Arieli

Queensland heritagefeature16 Fish scale embroidery from the

Embroiderers Guild QueenslandCollection Margaret Young

24 EH Mears Photographic Collection: RuralQueensland 1920s – 1950s Bernie and Gayle Carroll

38 Queensland geniuses on show: theSouthern Cross Museum Jody Ashford and Christine Ingram

64 Toowoomba Grammar School Museum:19th century boys’ schoolingJohn K Winn

military memorabilia32 Yeppoon RSL Military Museum

Michelle Edgar36 Do’s and don’ts for collectors of military

memorabilia Michelle Edgar

68 Military fashions and accessories: Historyto collect Matt Holmes

collectables10 Canine dog tags from WA goldfields

Peter Lane42 Rare coins: prices rising 51 An apothecary box 54 The Workshop Hagenauer Wien: the first

40 years 1898 – 1938Ronald Hagenauer

72 Majolica (not to be confused withmaiolica) explained

74 Oil and kerosene lamps and lanterns:private viewing of a collection Rob Ditessa

holiday feature62 Deck your halls: Collectables as festive

decorations

travel to collect 78 A collectable at every port on the

Brisbane River

94 out & about

regular features47 Conundrum49 Collectables fairs84 Bulletin Board87 Collectors’ bookshelf88 Trader93 Advertising rates96 How to subscribe96 Advertisers’ index

WINconundrumenter our prize draw

See page 47

T R A D E R

CollectablescoverB&W photograph of school cricket team coutesyToowoomba Grammar School

Fred Noller’s Friesian group (dairy cattle) at theKingaroy Show, 11 April 1935 by Harold Mears,courtesy Kumbia & District Historical Society Inc.

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6 Collectables Trader

Romanglass

Melody Amsel-Arieli

DEFINITION

Glass is shiny, hard and yetfragile, able to shatter in an

instant or survive for thousands ofyears. Natural glass (obsidian) isproduced by volcanic activity.Hand-made glass was created byaccident according to Romanhistorian Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79).He wrote that when Phoenicianseafaring merchants came ashore,they propped their cookingcauldrons on lumps of natron, anatural occurring salt taken fromtheir vessel. As the natron heated,it melted into the surrounding sand,forming a transparent liquid thatflowed in streams. When cooledthe liquid hardened into glass.

Whether truth or legend, by about2000 BCE, Phoenician vessels wereplying the Mediterranean ports withcargoes of core-formed glass flasksand juglets.

In core-form work, a techniquedeveloped in ancient Egypt,craftsmen either trailed liquid glassover clay cores attached to metalrods or dipped rods repeatedly intomolten glass to build up depth.After cooling, the clay was scrapedout and they added features suchas handles.

Decorations such as trails ofcontrasting strands of molten glassin colourful coiling or zigzagpatterns were sometimes added.Called unguentaria, these opaquevials had bell bottoms, thick walls

and tall slender necks that protectedcontents such as expensiveunguents or oils from evaporation.

In another early technique,glassworkers poured colouredmolten glass into single orinterlocking moulds. After coolingthe rough creations were groundand polished smooth, then handles,rims and bases were added. Sinceboth core-form and mouldtechniques were time consumingand laborious, ancient glass wasrare and costly.

The Romans adopted thematerial and contributed greatly toits development. The mostsignificant event was the discoveryof glassblowing, probably circa 50 BCE along a part of the Syrian-Palestine coast, then part of theRoman Empire. This discoveryopened the way for the eventualmass production of glass.

Emperor Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE)brought to Rome Judean, Syrianand Egyptian slave glassworkerswho passed on the technique ofglassblowing, along withtraditional glass making practices

1

Glass has been made for more than 35 centuries and as

such is a record of civilisation; a time capsule reflecting its

maker, the techniques, practices and styles for which it

was made. Today we take it for granted but in the ancient

world it was a luxury and highly prized

10 Collectables Trader

Canine dog tags

AUSTRALIANA COLLECTABLE

FROM THE WESTERNAUSTRALIAN GOLDFIELDS

Peter Lane

Dog tags of the canine varietyrarely attract the attention of

collectors; however they are a trueAustraliana collectable. The tagsoften have an armorial design orState emblem on them, the localityand license number details. At arecent Perth Numismatic Societycoin fair a dealer had seven dogtags dating from the Edwardian erato the Great Depression from theMurchison goldfields, which is a few

hundred kilometres north ofKalgoorlie. The dog tags weresnapped up.

The first Dog Act of WesternAustralia was introduced in 1841, alittle over a decade after formalEuropean settlement in Perth. TheAct was passed so annoying dogscould be removed. Owners wereonly required to register them attheir local municipalities. The Actwas amended on a number ofoccasions, but it was not until 1903that dogs had to wear tags.

Registration tags had to be madeof metal, be a prescribed shape(changed yearly), and record thedistrict, year and registration number.The reason the shape changedannually was so that the poundkeepers could easily see if a dogwas currently registered withouthaving to get too close to the animal.

DOG POPULATION

WA dog numbers have not beencentrally recorded so it is difficult tosay how many dogs were in the

Even 150 years ago dog control was

high on the political agenda and

each state introduced legislation that

addressed this issue. Moreover, the

laws relating to responsible

ownership were very similar to

concerns of today. Dog tags came to

play an important role in civilising

remote Western Australian goldfields

and form part of Australia’s cultural

history and are worthy of collecting.1 Mt. Magnet dog tag, 1907. Registration No. 21

1

16 Collectables Trader

EMBROIDERY

Margaret Young

DEFINITION

Fish scale embroidery is a floraldesign consisting of fish scales

cut in the shape of flower petals.Many of the scales are fairly largeand roughly cut. The embroidery isminimal with the design dependenton the placement of the fishscales. Fish scale embroidery wasvery popular in the late 1800s andearly 1900s.

It is mentioned in Barbara JMorris’ book Victorian Embroiderywhere she gives a brief descriptionof how the scales were prepared:

‘The fish scales had to beprepared before use and theiridescent scales of the carp, perch,or goldfish were considered themost suitable. They were scrapedfrom the fish with a knife andsteeped in cold water until soft and

pliable, and two small holes werepieced with a needle near the baseof each scale. The scales were thencoloured by a mixture of varnishand powdered colour after whichthey were ready to be sewn to theground by silk thread, and werearrange in overlapping patterns torepresent the petals of flowers,such as roses, or the shape ofbirds and butterflies. Stems, veins,tendrils and other fine details wereworked in chenille thread, goldthread of filoselle. The centres offlowers were filled in with Frenchknots worked in silk or with pearls,glass beads or spangles.’

TOWNSVILLE EMBROIDERY

The work is constructed on afoundation of black satin. Thethread used to represent the centreof the flowers is perle thread(lemon) worked as French knots.

Loosely worked stem stitch (fawnperle thread) is used for the stemsand leaves. The item is very fragile.

PROVENANCE

The embroidery had been a framedpicture hanging in Meryl Herbert’sfamily home in Townsville. In theaftermath of Cyclone Althea in theearly 1970s, the embroidery wasplaced in storage in the garage andforgotten. Over the years Merylspoke many times of this unusualembroidery, remembering thebrilliance and freshness of the piece.

About the embroidery, Merylwrote: ‘This piece of fish scaleembroidery was in my great-grandmother’s home in CrawfordStreet, West End, Townsville, for aslong as I can remember. I alwaysadmired it and was told it was madeof fish scales, but nothing else. Ithas to be more than 70 years old.’

Continuing our series on the gentle

arts, from Queensland come two

remarkable embroideries, an art

form that can be traced back to the

2nd millennium BCE.

Fish scale

1

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