Custom made dog tags

In 2015 we were asked to help with a historical special occasion – a way for one NZ family to commemorate and honour their beloved Grandfather - a soldier in WW1.

Vaughan contacted us with an idea that he had been thinking about for some years. To mark the 100 year anniversary of the ANZAC landings of Gallipoli he wanted to bring to life the story of his Grandfather who was a soldier at Gallipoli.

He would do this by writing his Grandfathers story, creating replicas of the dog tag that his Grandfather wore at Gallipoli and to have presentation boxes put together that he would then gift to the 10 great grandchildren of this remarkable man.

The original dog tags, pictured below, have been s treasured part of this family for generations.

   

An honour and a privilege

It has been our honour and privilege to be involved with this project, working with Vaughan every step of the way to produce replica dog tags for this brave soldiers great grandchildren.

From inception through production we collaborated with Vaughan to ensure we remained true to the idea that he had carried around for so long.

Creating the disc at first seemed relatively simple, however that wasn’t quite the case! After several thwarted attempts, we handmade each disc, then had each hand engraved.

We sourced black presentation boxes and got them imprinted with silver lettering, we found silver chains that would complement the tags. The final touch was some wired ribbon that we used to sit inside the boxes for a commemorative 100 year anniversary pin.

It has been an interesting and challenging journey and one that has brought us much pleasure. Vaughan’s big smile at the end made it all worthwhile.


Photo of Ernest and his bride from the family archives
 

And his testimonial says we got it right!

“When after literally years of cogitating I finally started working on physical outcome, there was a surprising number of elements to pull together, and absolutely nowhere to turn to for help.

I could buy boxes and ribbons and chains, but there was nobody to “pull it all together”.

Lori and Alex not only produced the silver dog tag replicas, but also put together the presentation package that holds the dog tag, and the effort involved in this was significant.

Alex ended up hand-making each of the replica tags after unsuccessfully attempting a number of replication techniques. He commented that “they must have been very good at this sort of thing back in 1915”…

His efforts in producing the replica, and Lori’s work in pulling together the presentation package, have been very, very much appreciated. It wouldn't have happened without them, and if you want superb hand-made jewellery, I can thoroughly recommend them!"

Call us for your special project

If you have a special project or occasion coming up, give us a call 0211846467 - we'd love to have a chat and see if we can help - from custom made one off pieces, to small runs for a few pieces the same, we will do our very best to help you realise your dream.