b'52SILVER389AN IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN COLONIALbeen a colourful character, loved by the common man to the SILVER-GILT BOXING BELT point where there were anecdotes of his being presented with (article published in the World of Antiques & Art, August 2006a gold brick by idolising Victorian miners. His colourful life and - Feb.2007 edition; author Judith Heaven) habits, however; meant that this, like so many of his valuable medals etc, was said to have been soon sold to support his A prize-fighters belt with Australian associations was recentlylifestyle.discovered in London. The imposing silver-gilt belt had beenIn mid-nineteenth-century Australia, reports of fights were presented to the Englishman, James Mace (18311910),made in newspapers and publications such as Bells Life in often called the father of boxing. The Australian associations,Sydney and mention usually made of the generous prizes as initially shown by the belts inscriptions, were that theand purses awarded to the victorious. It was Bells that made Englishman, Jem Mace, the world champion, was presenteda report of a fight and prize, discovered while researching with the belt by his Australian friends and admirers insporting belts in Australia and proved to be most interesting. September 1881. In an article by J M Houstone in The Australasian Antique Preliminary research showed that Mace had arrived in SydneyCollector in 1979 in which early Australian boxing belts are in 1877 after a distinguished international fighting career anddiscussed, he mentions belts made by J Cohen in Sydney left Australia from Melbourne in early 1882. During this timein 1847 and 1848. He also mentions another belt made in Mace gave numerous exhibition bouts, worked with the notedSydney prior to that. In early 1846 the Australian prize-fighter, Australian fighter Larry Foley at his boxing academy in SydneyBill Sparkes, was presented with a belt made by the Sydney and mentored and trained Foley for his greatest achievement,silversmith, Richard Lamb. The description of the belt in Bells Champion of Australia in 1870. Life in Sydney, while differing slightly with the engraved Research into Mace, Foley, prize-fighting and boxinginscriptions and the trim, leaves little doubt that it is the same in Australia provided details of the mens movements,belt presented to Jem Mace 35 years later.escapades and successes. Boxing was then bare-fisted. the clasp is of solid silverexecuted by M R. Lamb, of fighting and brutal matches could last for dozens of rounds.George Street, from a design of our old friend Meredith. / It was carried out under the London Prize-Fighting rules,THE CLASP / exhibited in the centre, the figure of a Pugilist such fighting being declared illegal in Britain in 1861 andin attitude, in strong relief; on either side of a Corinthian therefore, in most Australian colonies. In 1867 the newcolumn on the caps of which was engraved Pugilism and Marquess of Queensberry rules were introduced and ledPedestrianism, each twined by a ribbon on which his various to the re-legislation of fighting or boxing matches. Mace, inachievements were inscribedand on the pedestals the fact, is credited with the introduction in Australia, and mostwords Courage and Speed, the whole surmounted by the elsewhere, of gloved boxing and the new, strict boxing rulesAustralian Arms and at the foot, waved a ribbon bearing the which revolutionised fighting and turned it into a modernmotto Honor the Reward.boxing, a highly-skilled and regulated sport. Objects such as this for presentation were usually Fighting was popular and seemed to attract colourfulcommissioned and often this meant a local silversmith characters, although the sport did attract a wide range ofimporting an appropriate item and adding an inscription of followers. In early colonial Sydney, as in England, a group ofother decoration pertinent to the recipient or the occasion. wealthy and upstanding gentlemen championed the sportThese pieces were usually reported as being the work of the and provided financial and other support. Fighting matchescolonial silversmith who may have only reworked or simply often attracted unruly crowds and were stopped by police orretailed the item. The depression of 1842-50 was felt sorely even proposed matches declared illegal were moved to saferby silversmiths in Sydney, a situation which changed after ground, such as rural locations. Mace himself seems to have'