Colonial Buckle

[bstaunto]

Hi again,

I think this is probably Australian, but I can't find the maker's mark/name anywhere. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Ben

[Tripoli&Rouge]

Hi Ben,
A bit of googling shows a 'Jerger Jewelers' at 130 S. Broad Street, Thomasville, GA 31792, USA, phone: +1 229.226.4034.
Their motto is: 'The trusted name for diamonds and fine jewelry since 1857' so they have been around long enough to have made your buckle.
It's not the commonest of names so it must be a 'possible' worth a bit more research.
Best regards,
Tom.

[silverly]

If you think your buckle has an Australian connection, there was a John Jerger & Sons jewelers and watchmakers in Sidney in the 1890's who might be a slight possibility.

[silverly]

Actually, J Jerger & Sons are in the Sands Directories in Sidney in 1890 and the next few years after that in Parramatta. I just don't know how much Parramatta is differentiated from Sidney.

[larkfield]

For information, Parramatta is a western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales.

[dognose]

Those noted as working in the silver trade, with the name of Jerger, in Australia during the late 19th/early 20th century include:

Henry Jerger - Kensington Road, Adelaide - 1883
Mortlock H. Jerger (from Adelaide) - Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie - 1897-1901
John Jerger (from Adelaide) - Coolgardie - 1895-1901
Henry Jerger - Perth - 1899-1901
William H. Jerger - Coolgardie - 1899-1900

The towns and dates are not without interest. In the 1890's gold was discovered in Western Australia, Coolgardie, an area populated by only a handful of settlers suddenly became a boom town with an influx of gold rush prospectors hopeful of making their fortunes, and the population rose to around 25,000 in a very short space of time. The story of Kalgoorlie, about twenty-five miles from Coolgardie, is a similar one. As usual with gold rush towns, following the initial success, others soon followed to cash in on the new found weath in the area, and this is the likely reason the Jerger family migrated from one side of Australia to the other.

Although Kalgoorlie is still a gold mining town, the fortunes of Coolgardie were not so enduring and the town fell into sharp decline in the early years of the 20th century.

If Pat's (silverly) information can be linked with the above, then what we may have is a family of jewellers who, like many others, wandered from town to town, working wherever a living could be obtained.

Trev.