Gold Pin

AHM000279 is a gold stick pin. It was commisioned by a miner in Ballarat as a token of success on the goldfields. The pin is thin and ends at a sharp point. It is topped by a gold 3D-design of mining equipment; namely a shovel, pick and pan full of gold. Gold-mining-themed pins and brooches were common during the colonial gold rush era as a way of celebrating a find and displaying that success and subsequent wealth. This example is quite simple, with other brooches and pins including very delicate and intricate designs of mining scenes and equipment. Its imagery is typical of the ‘Digger Brooch’ design, featuring miniature tools and a nugget. There is some suggestion that the influence for the design may have come with migratory diggers previously in South Africa.