The Sydney Mint produced technically superb medals for various purposes. These were often designed by Australian artists, such as Helena Forde. In 1872 she took a break from the botanical and entomological illustration which was her livelihood to design the magnificent Yass medal with its wreath of native flowers.

Bar brooches decorated with swans (the black swan is the heraldic emblem of Western Australia) were very popular in the colony in the 1890s. The Western Australian goldfields were among the world's richest. The finds in Coolgardie in 1892 and Kalgoorie in 1893 attracted thousands of gold diggers as well as many jewellers to the colony.

NUGGET CHARM

In the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia. Object number 88/677

This design is adapted from a brooch originally bought in 1898 from the jeweller and retailer Joseph Masel in Freemantle, Western Australia. It was paid for in local gold. 

SWAN CHARM

In the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia. Object number A6557-1.

This design is adapted from a brooch originally bought in 1898 from the jeweller and retailer Joseph Masel in Freemantle, Western Australia. It was paid for in local gold.