Souvenirs of global gold seeking: goldfields jewellery of the 19th century

The pick and shovel motif in jewellery accompanied the late 19thC gold rushes around the world. It was picked up by manufacturing jewellers in the UK for relatively mass production, and sold in Western Australia and South Africa, where local names appear on shovel blades. In the Klondike, mass manufactured brooches based on the pick and shovel were made, possibly first by local jewellers, who added a characteristic trim of tiny nuggets, and occasional local motifs such as maple leaf and beaver. The American souvenir silver spoon craze of the 1880s-1920s picked up the pick and shovel and added further icons of gold-seeking in mountains (log cabin with mountains behind) and desert (loaded pack mule) to brooches (as well as spoons) in the early 1900s.