Hatbox of history for well-known Adelaide family’s jewellery collection
One of the state’s precious jewellery collections is being pulled together to celebrate a well-known Adelaide family reaching a ruby anniversary. One ruby piece “wrenched off mum’s chest” for the exhibition.
There has been a McCabe family business running in Adelaide since 1878, when Patrick McCabe stepped off the boat from Ireland and opened a tailor shop in Hindley Street.
In 1986, nearly 100 years after the family first arrived in Australia, Gerard McCabe evolved the business into an award-winning jewellery company. On its 40-year anniversary in May – one traditionally celebrated with rubies – the McCabe family is holding an exhibition to tell their story.
CityMag spoke with co-managing director Jessica McCabe-Moran, daughter of founder Gerard, about the upcoming exhibition, and what it’s meant to have a family so entwined with Adelaide history. She says, “I feel like growing up I wasn’t aware perhaps so much of the depth of the history.”
It’s only been after joining the business she’s learned stories about the generations of jewellers and tailors that came before her. A favourite is the history of an Edwardian hatbox that became integral as Gerard started his business as both a custom jeweller and curator of vintage and antique pieces.
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“This hatbox was something that was in the family, and his grandfather, Frank McCabe, had thrown bits of pieces of broken brooches and jewellery in it over the years…it ended up with dad. A lot of these were old and early Australian brooches, antique jewellery, and different things that he repaired, fixed up, made as new. And then that formed the early part of the jewellery collection he was offering for sale.”
The hatbox performed many duties, including security. Her father remembers, “I would catch the bus to and from work and had to transport the small amount of jewellery we had in stock while we were waiting for a safe to arrive. So, I would hop on a bus with diamonds and precious jewels everyday with passengers none the wiser!”
"On your 40th wedding anniversary, the ruby reinforces the strength of your devotion and passion toward one another. – Gerard McCabe"
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A piece of jewellery often has a story behind it; a lasting and precious item marking a milestone or occasion in a life. When asked for an estimate of how many engagement rings were sold over the last four decades, Jessica laughed, saying “probably in the tens of thousands, I imagine”.
She continued to say the business had been contacted by customers who bought rings from her great-grandfather Frank McCabe, and her grandfather Patrick McCabe as well. Many of these customers have contacted them to purchase additional pieces, or even to have an old ring redesigned to fit modern tastes.
“We do a lot of remodelling or designing bespoke creations. People think I want to that wear that jewellery or have that piece close to me, keep that sentiment going.”
The exhibition includes collections of jewellery sourced from the family and business archives or borrowed from the personal collections of customers. The hatbox itself will be on display as well, alongside other family treasures such as a pair of tailor’s scissors brought across the ocean in 1878 and a set of jeweller’s scales from the 1930’s used by Frank McCabe.
And there is even one of those rubies on display, one ruby brooch that is part of Gerard and his wife Pauline McCabe’s personal collection, Jessica saying “we wrenched it off mum’s chest to put in the exhibition”.
Curating the exhibition has been eye-opening. “Talking to friends and family and customers about these 40 years, more and more has come out that’s new information to us, and sometimes to dad.”
Gerard McCabe says “It’s been an absolute joy to uncover not only my family’s history, but pivotal moments in the business over four decades, as well as hearing the amazing stories from customers and reconnecting with old friends.”
The exhibition will be on display in the Adelaide Arcade for the entire month of May. Personal collections from customers will be on display from Friday May 1 to Sunday May 3. On Friday 8 May the Antique Jewellery Roadshow returns, and customers will be able to book an appointment to bring personal pieces in for a complimentary assessment.
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