Goldsmith Family History

Getsel Goldsmith arrived in New Zealand in 1898. He was a Jeweller & Watchmaker by trade. He initially set up shop on the perifery of the Martha goldmine of Waihi.

He became naturalised in 1902 and opened a Jewellery store in Stanley, now known as Petone. Getsel had seven sons who were being brought up in Australia by their mother. The eldest Joseph Isaac Goldsmith went to South Africa and started an Ostrich farm & was wounded in the Boer war. Ostrich feathers were highly saleable items of ladies fashion at the time, and he was successful enough to fund all of his brothers through Medical School. Getsel met the Cohen family in Auckland who were also in the trade, and arranged for their daughter Deborah to correspond with his son. After a prolonged courtship by mail, Isaac sold his interests in South Africa and came to New Zealand. He married Deborah and they had seven children. Three boys & four girls. He set up house in Wellington and started a business manufacturing womens clothing and distributing jewellery.

In 1942, during WW2, the Wairarapa experienced a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Isaac's brick factory in Wellngton collapsed. Fortunately, it happened at 11pm so no-one was injured. He was uninsured at the time due to the economic effects of a wartime economy, so at 60 years years of age was never able to re-establish the business to it's former level.

By the end of World War Two Isaac had lost one son, Lionel shot down over Hamburg, but welcomed back another, Oliver, who returned from England after completing two and a half tours of duty as a

Flight Lieutenant with the RAF and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Finding it difficult to adjust to civilian life after four years at war, he bought a new Ford V8, gambled & partied until he ran out of funds. With his last few pounds he purchased run out lines from wholesalers and on-sold them around the country. As he slowly built up his business, O.L. Goldsmith & Co Ltd, he was able to start buying from overseas agents. Import licencing became the problem then, as only businesses with importing histories were granted licences. It was an ongoing battle to build up a licence holding. After marrying, his son Lawrence was born, Oliver had to employ commerical travellers in order to have time with his family. His wife Moyna worked with him for nearly 45 years. In 1969 his son Lawrence left school and worked for the company for 26 years until Oliver's sudden death in 1995 in his 76th year.

Lawrence purchased the stock holding from the family estate at the end of 1995, starting the present company Goldsmith Imports Ltd. In 1999 his wife Shelley came to work with him and has proven invaluable to the company with her knowledge of the trade and expertise in pearl buying. They have 2 - 3 buying trips to Europe & Asia each year sourcing new products with which to supply the jewellery retail sector.

Goldsmith Imports has the widest range of jewellery sold by any wholesaler in New Zealand, and boast the single biggest selection of cultured pearls.

For over 100 years the Goldsmith family have been servicing the needs of the jewellery industry in New Zealand. We pride ourselves on selling quality products which are competitively priced.