Rare South African hand-made Jewellery pieces from the 1960s and 1970s.

A selection of very unique South African hand-made jewellery pieces from the 1960s and early 1970s made by Metal Art, Candida, Simba (formed in 1955) all somehow connected with Joe Calafato, the Italian master badge manufacturer (Pretoria Badge and Metal Art) who did his apprenticeship as a manufacturing jeweller under Jack Friedman - a well known local jewellery manufacturer between the 1930s to 1950s. Friedman Jewellers are still operating today. Calafatos work made an important contribution to the development of a uniquely South African design domain and has become increasingly sought after at antique and collectible markets. The National Parks Board commissioned brooches from these badge/brooch makers during the late 1950s through to the 1970s. The materials used were silver, silver plate (or pewter) and copper, sometimes combined with a natural shell effect. The large Kruger Park (Leaping Springboks) hand-made brooch (seen in the photos) is silver and is 36 mm in diameter. Different forms of the Kruger Park makers mark were used, WILDTUIN KRUGER PARK and sometimes REGD was added.

Joe Calafatos aesthetic appreciation of African wildlife is again present in this beautiful, copper Giraffe brooch. Calafato is known for his designs that have an endearing quality of composition and this brooch is a wonderful example of his great work. Masterfully designed, it is hallmarked, but not with one of Calafatos more well-known makers marks, but is instead hallmarked with his signature all-caps: COPPER.

These various manufacturers ceased production in the early 1980s and the pieces are rarely found these days.

See photos showing details of all 11 badges a mixture of brooches and pin badges.

Some examples of the value of Simba hand-made jewellery:
A Simba vintage Claw Brooch sold for R750 as recently as 2019
The large Kruger Park (Leaping Springboks) hand-made brooch sold for $35 (over R500).