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Overview
This kiwi beak brooch represents a late 19th century fashion in New Zealand jewellery making for utilising the unique beaks of indigenous birds as a centrepiece. The beaks were potentially by-products of the bird plummage trade and feather furriery. Indigenous bird beaks were fashioned by local jewellers into brooches, pendants, tie pins and hat pins. Although the elegantly curved beak of the huia was the most frequently used by jewellers, the sharp curved beaks of keas and the long thin beaks of kiwi were also used. This particular beak is 145mm long.
The brooch is believed to have been made by Frank Grady & Sons due to the crown stamp on the cap - Winsome Shepherd notes that the company stamped their gold work with a crown (see Shepherd, 223). Born in Birmingham in 1840, Frank Grady established a watchmaker and jewellery business in Willis St, Wellington in 1880. Two of his sons were involved in the business: Francis Frederick Grady Jnr and Henry Shaw Grady.