Victoria in 1851 - all were off to the goldfields to try their luck!¹ As William Howitt observed:

the diggers' carts are piled with all sorts of diggers' apparatus - shovels, sieves, cradles, iron buckets, picks, axes, and the like. Behind hang whole heaps of pans, panikins, kettles and iron pots, [and atop], bedding and often two or three women and some children.²

Astute men soon realised that to belong to the emerging merchant class offered greater possibilities in all kinds of fields: sly grogging on the diggings, supplying goods to the miners, and manufacturing of all kinds, including of the precious metal. Very soon individual goldsmiths were fashioning presentation pieces of gold, such as the massive ostentatious brooch presented to the notorious Lola Montez in 1855. The more discerning identified a market among the general populace for personal ornaments of a more refined taste. Jewellery manufactories began to appear in subsequent years.

David Rosenthal, a merchant jeweller and a native of Russian Poland, arrived in Melbourne aboard the Sydney in November 1852. His first years in Melbourne were spent in business with other emigrants from Europe, firstly with Hayman Feldheim, then later also Abraham Berens, a relative, as importers and wholesale jewellers at 33 Little Collins-street west until 1859. Rosenthal then continued alone until 1871, when he, with a partner (see below), commenced manufacturing jewellery in Melbourne on his own account.³ A jewellery manufactory was erected for him in 1872.

The new manufactory, erected for David Rosenthal & Co., Wholesale Jewellers and Importers, at the rear of their then-retail premises at 15 Little Collins-street west, was designed by the architects Messrs Reed and Barnes, prominent in their field in Melbourne.⁴ Constructed of stone and brick, it was a substantial building of three storeys, measuring 66 by 20 feet (20.11 by 6.09 metres), and was designed to accommodate fifty-five goldsmiths in comfort. Placement of the windows over the workbenches eliminated danger to their health by ensuring proper ventilation. The charcoal furnaces (which once caused the fire brigade to attend⁵) were on the ground floor. A celebratory banquet was held in honour of the opening of the new building, with the principal, Mr Rosenthal, welcoming some hundred guests.⁶

Gold, in bars and sovereign blanks, was obtained by manufacturing jewellers from the Royal Mint in William Street, Melbourne, these being 91.67% gold; the remainder was of copper. The sovereign blanks were then melted down and other metals added in proportion to give the carat required: 9, 12, 15 or 18. Pure gold - 24 carat - is too soft for such use.⁷ The colour of the finished piece was determined by the addition of other metals; for instance, if 25% copper were added to 75% gold the colour would be red-gold. The metal was annealed during the manufacturing process by plunging it into water when black-hot to prevent it becoming brittle. Most locally made pieces were of gold rather than of silver. Although these pieces found a ready market, the wealthier classes still purchased imported jewellery. The Argus reported that

specimens of the colonial goldsmiths' art have been executed which would do credit to any manufacturer in London or Paris. ... in one direction they claim superiority, and that is in connexion with the quality of the material of which their productions are composed.⁸

No doubt influencing David Rosenthal to commence manufacturing jewellery in Melbourne was the decision of the Victorian Government in 1866 to pass legislation introducing tariff protection for local industries. Imported jewellery then carried duty of 10 per cent. ⁹ David Syme, of the Age, 'the people's paper', championed this cause.

The firm's beginnings were modest. Included among the thirty men and boys then employed was the manager, Otto Brinkmann, a working jeweller who had emigrated from Hanover, Germany, aboard the Sophia and who had been resident in the colony since 1854.¹⁰ The firm also imported skilled labour, goldsmiths from Germany, possibly including Henry Hessels and Julius Haber. In mid 1871, according to the Argus, manufacturing jewellers were paid between £2 15s and £3 15s per week with the better workmen receiving as much as £5 or £6.¹¹ The wages paid to apprentices were not listed but would have been from about 2s 6d to 5s per week in the first year. At this time many such tradesmen were unemployed. Output of the factory included 'brooches, chains, rings, earrings, lockets and studs'.¹²