Australian Aboriginal Hairpin

Australian Aboriginal jewellery/adornment has only been discussed at all comprehensively and in scholarly fashion in just one book: Truus Daalder, my wife, devotes pp. 14-59 of her book *Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment* to the subject. This is literally the first serious study of this type of adornment. Inasmuch as any Australian Aboriginal pieces are shown elsewhere, the number is usually one, or at most two. Truus shows more than 80 objects: most of these are shown on their own, but a few smaller ones occur at times on just one photo. The book has been much praised for this entirely original contribution to knowledge and understanding of jewellery largely unknown even - to its disgrace, I feel - in Australia itself. Has that praise translated into sales?? Hardly, I would think, from all the evidence. Even the large section on Oceania (which is more popular) that follows the one on Aboriginal adorment has only been a moderate factor in the sales, though undoubtedly several of the world's best-known experts on Oceania (dealers, curators, specialised collectors) HAVE bought the book specially for the work done in that area. The vast bulk of our customers, however, appear to be those who like jewellery to be made of metal. Nothing wrong with that: so do we. We had rather hoped, however, that the material on Australia and Oceania would attract more buyers. The section on Oceania is held in very high regard, with many superb pieces shown (belonging half each to the South Australian Museum and to us), and the scholarship greatly praised. It is more extensive and thorough, in all respects, than is found in any book (including the few specialising in Oceanic adornment). It is not the money we are after: this book was always going to be a publication which we might never recover our cost on. The comparative lack of interest in Australian and Oceanic jewellery has, however, disappointed us, and we hope that that will change. Probably it is only a matter of time ...

Comments

Joost Daalder April 1, 2012 at 4:59am

Australian Aboriginal jewellery/adornment has only been discussed at all comprehensively and in scholarly fashion in just one book: Truus Daalder, my wife, devotes pp. 14-59 of her book *Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment* to the subject. This is literally the first serious study of this type of adornment. Inasmuch as any Australian Aboriginal pieces are shown elsewhere, the number is usually one, or at most two. Truus shows more than 80 objects: most of these are shown on their own, but a few smaller ones occur at times on just one photo. The book has been much praised for this entirely original contribution to knowledge and understanding of jewellery largely unknown even - to its disgrace, I feel - in Australia itself. Has that praise translated into sales?? Hardly, I would think, from all the evidence. Even the large section on Oceania (which is more popular) that follows the one on Aboriginal adorment has only been a moderate factor in the sales, though undoubtedly several of the world's best-known experts on Oceania (dealers, curators, specialised collectors) HAVE bought the book specially for the work done in that area. The vast bulk of our customers, however, appear to be those who like jewellery to be made of metal. Nothing wrong with that: so do we. We had rather hoped, however, that the material on Australia and Oceania would attract more buyers. The section on Oceania is held in very high regard, with many superb pieces shown (belonging half each to the South Australian Museum and to us), and the scholarship greatly praised. It is more extensive and thorough, in all respects, than is found in any book (including the few specialising in Oceanic adornment). It is not the money we are after: this book was always going to be a publication which we might never recover our cost on. The comparative lack of interest in Australian and Oceanic jewellery has, however, disappointed us, and we hope that that will change. Probably it is only a matter of time ...

This reply was deleted.

You need to be a member of Adorned Histories to add comments!

Join Adorned Histories

Gallery

Australian Aboriginal Hairpin

Comments

Request your copy of our newsletter.