Hidden op shop gem finds its way home

By Grace Carter

Apr 15, 2025

Tom Dumaresq has been reunited with a family mourning brooch from the 19th century. Photo by Megan Fisher

When Gary Mason walked into a Euroa op shop, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into.

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Gary saw a brooch “sitting lonely” in a jewellery cabinet at the Euroa Bowerbird Op Shop, and knew it was “far more important” than to remain there.

He could tell this particular item was valuable, so with the help of Ancestry and Google, he began researching.

The brooch had sat in the op shop for about five weeks.

The end goal for Gary was to reunite a family with a piece of their history that had been lost over the years.

“I go into op shops and feel so sorry for the family,” he said.

“I just think, ‘there’s a family somewhere that would love that’.

“You cobble it together like a jigsaw, and hopefully, you get the right answer.”

Knowing a bit about jewellery and antiques, Gary quickly realised it was a mourning brooch — an item common in the 19th and early 20th centuries to commemorate someone who had died.

The mourning brooch from 19th century Gary Mason found in a Euroa op shop. Photo by Megan Fisher

Engraved on the back of the brooch was ‘Blanche H Dumaresq, 11yrs and 3 months’.

After two weeks of digging, Gary found the brooch’s family, Tom Dumaresq and his wife, Cecily, who were conveniently living in Mooroopna.

The pair were thrilled to be reunited with the brooch.

It turned out the brooch was crafted in memory of Blanche Herietta Dumaresq — Tom’s great-grandfather’s older sister — who died in the South Esk River, in Longford, Tasmania, in December 1887.

Gary said things “really became sentimental” when he got to meet Tom and saw a picture of Blanche.

“I was looking at the girl I’d been researching,” Gary said.

“It really hit me hard.

“She suddenly had a real identity.”