....the 19th Century history of Gaelo's Tartan Brooches.

The story of Gaelo's brooches begins more than 150 years ago...... with, strange to say, stones which were gathered from the beds of the River Ayr in Ayrshire. These stones, called the "Water of Ayr Stones", have the property of being uniquely suited to the sharpening of fine steel blades - and in the 19th century,  the stones were widely traded as a local Ayrshire product.

The business potential of these stones was noticed and taken up by two brothers - Andrew and William Smith who were stonemasons - why not package the stones in a box decorated with tartan? The brothers succeeded in making an attractive tartan box, much aided by the fact that Andrew had a fascination with a machine called the Pantograph, by which pictures and other designs could be copied and reduced in scale. Andrew developed the machine, eventually calling it a "Profile Machine" that could draw tartans - by drawing parallel lines at right angles to each other.

The brothers' tartan packaged stones were a great success and their boxes so admired that they expanded into other decorated wooden ware. Around Mauchline in Ayrshire - where of course Robert Burns lived - there had been a long tradition of boxware manufacture - so much so that most of the local Sycamore trees were cut down and timber had to be imported from Ireland! Such was the interest in tartans that the brothers developed, they researched their subject and published a book "The Authenticated Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland" - this in 1850.

The Smiths' crowning glory was to exhibit their wares at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace in London, in which they introduced 'A Variety Of Scotch Fancy Woodwork' which has come to be known as Mauchline Ware - or Tartan Ware. Since those days, Mauchline Ware has a developed a huge worldwide following, many books and publications....and a very fine website dedicated exclusively to the subject www.mauchlineware.com. Take a look at this site if you want to learn more about this fascinating subject. The Smiths' and other  workshops produced a huge variety of small wooden items decorated with tartan. As tourist souvenirs, they found their way almost all over the world: snuff boxes, twine holders, calendars, pin cushions and - brooches.

Courtesy M Groff, NY

At Gaelo...our inspiration has been the brooches.

The originals were made by decorating a thin domed rondell with printed tartan - which was then shellaced and placed in a brass pressing. Today, we make the brooches by a slightly different method.....and to withstand the rigours of modern life, we coat the tartan with many layers of a special lacquer and set the finshed rondell into castings of solid silver, gold plated silver and gold.

Making Gaelo’s Brooches is very much a handcraft affair - the lacquer coats are built up over a period of ten days and each coat is carefully sanded and smoothed until the surface is deep and lustrous ( the surface becomes smoother and more lustrous with use). When the tartan designs are ready, they are placed in their brooch mounts. All sizes and styles of our brooches are made this way. Because lacquering is a craft process, each brooch is slightly different.

When the silver and gold mounts come out of the casting workshop, each is carefully examined then sent to Edinburgh to the Assay Office for hallmarking: the process of hallmarking is the guarantee of silver/gold purity/content. Gaelo has its own makers mark and is an absolute guarantee that the piece has come from our workshops.
The marks on Gaelo’s silver jewellery are these: