In the 19th century, jewellery was the go-to gift for men to show their affection for a wife, fiancée or sweetheart. A century later, rarely do we know who gave what to whom, or when. Often the link has been lost, or the design has fallen out of favour, and the gift becomes neglected. Worse, it might have been melted down for bullion value, as the price of gold soared. Greg Street describes one ‘Kalgoorlie’ gold mining brooch bought and presented in the late 1890s in Western Australia and which, over more than a century, had only two owners. Descendants decided to sell it with its complete provenance and with historic photographs of it being worn by its original owner.