Featured Sterling Silver School Cufflinks

I bought these on eBay over the weekend, and they'd just arrived this morning.

These cufflinks, in white and blue enamel on sterling silver, depict the crest, or coat of arms of my old highschool - Scotch College in Melbourne.

The school dates from 1851, and over the next 70-odd years, they had numerous different school badges, arms, etc. The current design wasn't finalised until 1924. So they can't be older than that. But even so, that means they're nearly 100 years old!

They're in flawless condition. I don't think they've ever been used, and I know that they must be very rare. The school archive (which I have visited), does not, to my knowledge, have a set of antique school cufflinks in its collection.

The school does still sell cufflinks, but nothing of this quality. Not these days. Now they're all gold-plated and stuff. This is real, old-world quality. Nearly 100 years old and absolutely flawless



"DAMMAN'S STG SIL", on the back. Damman's was a local jewelry firm.

 

Awesome find for you Shangas!

 

The school was founded by a Scotsman in 1851. It started out as the Melbourne Academy, but its nickname was "The Scot's College" or "The Scots' College", and the Scottish flag was part of the school's emblems and flags from its inception.

Eventually by the 1860s/70s, the spelling was finalised as "The Scotch College" (later 'The' was dropped), and it's remained 'Scotch College' or even just 'Scotch' ever since.

The boys who go there are called 'Scotchies'.

In the 1920s, the school was in the process of moving house, and was being relocated to its new (and current) campus. At the time, the school still did not have a standardised coat of arms, so a competition was held for the students and staff to design one. Many were put forward, but in the end, they went with the one that's still used today, which was created in 1924.

That's the coat of arms that's on the cufflinks.

The school was, originally, heavily modeled after the private schools of England, like Eton and Harrow, etc. To the extent that they even had the boater hats (or cloth caps, in winter) and the striped blazers and everything else.

The boaters aren't part of the uniform anymore, but the blazers still are. If you were a boarder living in one of the boarding-houses, you could even walk around the dorms at night, wearing a Scotch College dressing gown, with the red and yellow piping, bright red wool fabric, and the school crest embroidered on it.

The school hats had metallic badges pinned or sewn onto them, and like the cufflinks - these too were made in sterling silver.

 

No it doesn't. It means they are not any older than 96 years. I agree they are in an older style of construction & you note they are of better quality than those being made today, but your pair could have been made probably any time 1924 - 1960. There is no reason to assume they were made the same year the design was finalized.

 

I think you could narrow down the time frame if you could find out when Damman's was closed.

 

I have a school-crested cigarette lighter, also retailed by Damman's. The lighter dates to the 1930s, that much I know for certain (I looked up the model in the manufacturer's product lists).

 

This is "Damman's":

https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab89168/1/a41755

Established in 1854, Damman's was a tobacconists shop and jeweler's shop founded by George Damman, and which was later carried on by his son, Oscar Damman (which a newspaper article in 1925 says, had the great misfortune of having his car broken into and its contents stolen - including the keys to the shop!).

The photo shows their shop at the corner of Swanston St and Collins St. in the middle of Melbourne. Doesn't say when the shop / business closed, though. It also shows that they were operating until at least 1954.

I'm inclined to think that they sold the cufflinks and the lighter around the same time, since they're a similar style. If that's the case, that would be the early 1930s.

 

Sorry to upset you so much.

 

I'm not upset. This confusion of a terminus post quem for the date of an item is something I see fairly often. It seems like such an obvious error in reasoning, I was surprised to see you make it.

 

I claimed to be interested, I never claimed to be smart.

 

Except I know you are smart.

 

Not very, apparently.

 

Even smart people make mistakes.

Only perfect people don't make mistakes. People who think they are perfect make a big mistake.

 

I think Shangas's call is spot on -- give or take a decade. And if the online sale I saw was his (these cufflinks seem to be rare items so I can't imagine it wasn't) that was extremely well bought.

Maybe upmarket lighters, cufflinks, etc, were made as gifts for headmasters and such? I can think of only one "torpedo (??) cufflink with chain" that has washed up in all our Sydney flotsam over the decades. Shangas got himself something pretty good, IMHO.

Enjoy!