Gold Nugget Prospectors Brooch

                     Up for auction is a gold nugget, prospectors, spade brooch. These brooches would normally have a small safety chain, but in this instance it has been removed. These brooches are reported to have been made from the first nuggets found by a prospector, which he then had modeled into a brooch to commemorate the occasion. Prospectors were very active around the world during the early 1800’s and South Africa was no different with thousands flocking here for the Gold rush on the Witwatersrand, the Kaap Muiden Valley, Pilgrims Rest and even here in Natal at Mfongosi and Nondwini. A truly remarkable group of people who shaped the mining industry to what we now have. In South Africa today, gold nuggets may not be owned without a license unless they have been made into jewelry. Here is a chance to own a piece of jewelry from that era. Brooches such as this rarely come on to the open market. I have only seen one other, that sold on an international auction site, and fetched several hundred Dollars. The weight of this brooch is 2.9 grams.

Bid with confidence and good luck. See my other auction for a similar item set as a tie pin.