About our New Zealand Historical gifts

New Zealand’s Beautiful Box Company have a vision to showcase quality NZ made, hand crafted giftware products on the www.giftboxes.co.nz website dedicated to portraying a little of early New Zealand history. Each of the historical gifts is accompanied by a pamphlet telling an interesting story of the first European people – the explorers, gold miners and early settlers of NZ. Replicas of old NZ medals decorate a large array of useful, distinctive handcrafted products such as a handsome wooden deskset with embossed stationery and quill pen; pottery decanters either empty or full of award winning New Zealand wines and spirits; an intriguing Master Mariner’s game of chance and an exclusive NZ leather belt with buckle made of a replica sterling silver medal. You’ll not find a more unique Kiwi gift - a Maori cabinetmaker makes the desksets of indigenous wood (as are the turned rimu pots) while the ceramic decanters use NZ clay. The decanter’s replica medal and stunning packaging utilizes pertinent old artworks from principal museums and art galleries in N.Z. and makes these items truly special gift boxes and worthy of your attention!

These exceptional historic New Zealand gift products of world wide interest are available luxuriously gift wrapped and gift boxed as a total NZ gift on our on-line store of hand-made quality historical gifts from Aotearoa. Wherever you live worldwide buy historical gifts on-line to be sent to yourself, numismatic or educated friend or purchase an artistic box to have it packed and delivered nationally or internationally. Buy NZ made gifts!

One of the medals portrayed is of the important and possibly most beautiful medal ever made, “The Resolution and Adventure Medal”. This medal was thought to be the brainchild of Sir Joseph Banks, the famous naturalist who accompanied Captain James Cook on the first of his voyages to the South Pacific in his search for “the lost continent” now known as Antarctica. Records state that the medal was just one item of gifts of beads, nails, hatchets and medals taken by Captain Cook on his second voyage in 1772 to assist in befriending the native Maori people and as long lasting and ongoing proof that Cook had set foot on new land. An inexpensive and marvellously factual, scholarly story of the R&A medal is available for sale. Written by L. Richard Smith of Wedgwood Press, Sydney and reproduced in NZ as a 36 page publication on a N.Z. theme, it speaks of early medal manufacture, cracked dies, leather pouches and supreme adventure, with graphic copies of historic invoices showing Joseph Banks’ handwritten annotations!

Other replica medals represent the land and the importance of animals recognising that early settlers were keen to begin to cultivate crops and breed animals in order not to starve! Life was extremely hard, farms were established, organised immigration encouraged, leading to life in New Zealand as we know it today. The 1800’s rural farming medal depicts old fashioned looking farm animals from the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association (A&P) - a medal still presented and proudly received to this day. The Clydesdale horse is the subject of another medal, and again it remains an honour for breeders to receive such a medal for a well bred, good-looking and capable shire horse as the Clydesdale horse played a valuable and important part in the early days of NZ settlement being a strong, versatile animal invaluable for many uses – unloading or hauling heavy loads or towing supplies from the sailing ships. The era of early gold-mining is also represented with authentic old photographs of Central Otago goldfields printed onto boxes.

This exclusive range of historical gifts from NZ craftspeople feature in the interesting stock for the Kiwi gift box business, created from ideas which previously won Marilyn Marshall a coveted Zonta award for Women in Business in Canterbury, New Zealand.