As a seasoned contractor, he was used to finding rubbish holes on properties.
As he cleared away the debris, a piece of ceramic poked out of the soil.
“I started being a little bit more careful.”
He pulled the almost metre-tall vessel out of its resting place.
“I sort of didn’t really take much notice of it, thinking, oh, it’s just another old crockery pot.”
He laid it to the side and continued with his work.
When his wife Lynnlee Black returned from work, they thought to make a fun game out of their findings for their 5-year-old daughter, Charlee – telling her they had found buried treasure.
She began to clean the ceramic crockery with wet wipes while his wife filmed her excitement.
“And before we knew it, we’re like, holy s***, we’ve actually got a very, very rare piece of Whanganui history,” Black said.
The stoneware jar was in near-perfect condition aside from the missing top, which had been filed down.
Wanganui Brewery was owned by Hopeful “Hope” Gibbons, and run with his business partner Henry Hole from 1895 until the Gibbons family sold the business in 1950 – which may align with the crest painted on the front of the discovered stoneware jar. Photo / Erin Smith
Removing the dirt revealed a distinct crest painted across the front reading: “Gibbons & Hole Ale Wanganui Brewery” – a business that had been closed for over 60 years.
“After that, I started googling the name and started finding … a whole lot of other information,” he said.
Black said he realised it held historic significance.
The Wanganui Brewery operated between 1877 and 1960 under various names and was located at the corner of Bates St and Somme Parade – known colloquially as “Brewery Corner”.
Famous Whanganui photographer William James Harding photographed a “Bell Brewery” in the 1870s when it was housed in wooden buildings.
The business was owned by Messrs Garner and TB Williams in 1883 when it became known under the name Wanganui Brewery. They sold Wanganui Brewery to Hopeful “Hope” Gibbons in 1895, and Gibbons took over with his business partner Henry Hole.
The Wanganui Brewery’s wooden buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1907 and replaced by brick buildings in 1908.
Hope Gibbons served as Whanganui Mayor from 1924 to 1927 and was a prominent figure in Whanganui.
The Gibbons family sold the business in 1950 to New Zealand Breweries and it was renamed to Western Brewery.
They moved their operations to Palmerston North in 1960 – ending the “Brewery Corner” era – and the buildings were demolished in 1973.
Some of the surviving artefacts from the brewery are housed at the Whanganui Regional Museum.
They have bottles from Wanganui Brewery but none with the names Gibbons and Hole.
Whanganui Regional Museum acting director and collections & curatorial lead Trish Nugent-Lyne said based on photos of the jar’s markings and the style of jar, it was likely genuine but would require further examination by experts to be fully deemed authentic.
Black posted photos of his find with a short description in the Facebook group Kiwi Vintage Bottle Collectors New Zealand on Sunday evening.
“Holy moly, all the comments that I was getting from the people and stuff was like that’s extremely rare.”
Group members said it may be the sole bottle of its kind ever found intact. Only one other stoneware jar with the same crest and design was known by the group, Black said, but was found smashed and had to be repaired.
Black said multiple people reached out to him offering as much as $10,000 to purchase it.
“But unfortunately, I’m not interested in selling it,” Black said.
“It’s part of Wanganui. It’s part of Alexander St. It’s part of our home, as well as our past residents and owners of our home.”
Shonn and Lynnlee were born and raised in Whanganui, as Charlee has been.
“It’ll be staying on display at our house for my family and probably generations to come.”
The Blacks have found many artefacts at their Alexander St home over the 13 years they have lived there.
He said people should always treat things they unearth with respect.
“Someone in the past had a life at your home, your property and these little things that you find, potentially are old memories from families and friends and of past loved ones.
“These are pretty special things to find.”
They are the third family to occupy their home, which was built in 1929 by Thomas William Couper and Florence Louise Watson.
He said he plans to reach out to organisations in charge of Whanganui’s historical records to seek advice on how best to document the jar so it can be catalogued.
“I’d definitely like to put it towards Whanganui history and archives.”
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
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