BRACELET

The bracelet was originally purchased by Evelyn Eliza (nee McEwen) and William Frederick DICKSON for their daughter Ruby Constance on the occasion of her 21st birthday on 30 March 1907. William Frederick was an accountant with a Kalgoorlie mining company. Ruby was born in Melbourne on 30 March 1886. The family moved from Victoria to Kalgoorlie in the late 1890s. Ruby married Algenon Theodore Wardell- Johnson in 1923 at the age of 37 years. She was by that time living in Subiaco and working for the Lands Department. Wardell-Johnson also worked for the Lands Department. They later lived in Sawyers Valley where they ran an orchard. The jeweller, Charles Edward BAND, was born on 11 May 1864 in Derby, England. He was apprenticed to R.Camp, an English watchmaker. He moved to New York, then Chicago, then Fresno in California where he was employed by various jewellers. In 1892 he arrived in Sydney where he worked for nearly two years before moving to Fremantle in 1894. In Fremantle he was employed by a local jeweller, Anthony Fouchard. [See CH72.226 Brooch attributed to Fouchard] In 1898, Band opened his own business in Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie, where he worked until at least 1913. (publication date for Battye's, Cyclopedia of WA) The bracelet is 9c white gold with 5 x 0.03ct diamonds and 8 x 2mm rubies. Oval shaped formed by two narrow bands with horseshoe feature in centre front on solid background. Diamonds and rubies in horseshoe and solid background. Hinged on one side with opening opposite. Safety chain. In original royal blue teardrop-shaped case. Covered in velvet and inside lid lined with satin and stamped with gold lettering: 'C.E. BAND / JEWELLER / Hannan Street / KALGOORLIE' No maker's mark. Sold to Bloomsbury Antiques by Wardell-Johnson, stepson of Ruby Constance, in 1989. Wardell-Johnson provided the family information.

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