antique cameo, jewelry loupe & grand tour by: Anonymous
This is why collectors of antique jewelry love handmade antique cameos, they really are one-of-a-kind. I have even come across matching antique cameo ear pendants, with a male silhouette on one earring and a female silhouette on the other earring!
These exquisitely detailed cameo ear pendants, combined bead and wirework accents and were carved from conch shell in Italy during the early Victoria era, transported back to the United Kingdom by a wealthy young man or lady along the popular European Travel Itinerary, the proverbial - Grand Tour, which flourished from the 17th century until the arrival of mass rail transit in the 1820s.
Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in the year of 1837. The years from 1837 to 1901 were said to be by C. Jeanne Bell, "the most progressive in history".
Collecting Victorian Jewelry highlights world events in this timeframe and captures the influence these events had on fashion and jewelry.
To date a cameo with accuracy, years of research may be necessary. Magnification is vital and a jewelers loupe is a necessary tool in examining a carving and to determine the material the cameo is made of.
Careful examination will detect if the cameo is machine made, or has a snowy appearance. As the silhouettes of your earrings differ, it appears they have been hand-made. Under Jeweler's loupe, a collector can determine if the cameo has been carved in one piece or assembled and then glued together from different materials.
The anonymous relief of a woman on a cameo often suggest it descended from the early Victorian Era, while the cameo habille (French) that depicted the head of a person carved in the stone, wearing a necklace, hair ornament or ear-rings made of small stones, did not become fashionable until the late nineteenth Century.
A "saucy" nose indicates the turn of the century. An upswept hairstyle indicates a late Victorian cameo, while shorter hairstyles indicate the 20th Century.
