Cameos!

These are some of my favorite carved shell cameos. They’re a bit different from the more traditional carved shell cameos depicting a lovely lady in profile or Greek/Roman mythology. They speak to the Victorian age and aesthetic (with the exception of 2 in the bottom row). The woman in the clouds cameo, bottom row, is 1 of only 2 that I own with a left-facing profile. Top row, right side cameo & center, rectangular cameo are each stamped 14K.

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@Patina
I love all the florals and birds!
And the hands…these are amazing!

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Ok here are my cameos.

These two are Wedgwood.

And these next two are something a little bit different.
They are called Grand Tour Plaster Intaglios.

Back in the 1830s-1860s, wealthy people did the Grand Tour of Europe, and brought home collections of these castings as souvenirs.
The castings were taken from carved gemstone intaglios, most with mythological themes.
They were grouped together in display boxes, as a remembrance of the trip.

I found these two at the antique mall, and the seller had no idea what they were. I grabbed them fast!

The first one is called The Abduction of Ganymedes.

The second one is a priestess putting a bread offering on a brazier.

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Wow, @Patina & @Stracci! You’re a multi-styler collectors and have some wonderful cameos! Before I started collecting NA, I was very attracted to these beautiful broaches. As I recall I bought one at an antique shop, but have no idea of its authenticity and can’t remember what happened to it. So instead I have a lot of NA and cameos moved out of my mind. Thanks for sharing your collection, I especially love the Wedgwood. I’m impressed!

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Thanks! Your cameos are very pretty. I’m especially drawn to the beautiful, large oval Wedgwood cameo. Looks like your silver framed cameo pendant is Demeter with wheat shafts in her hair. I’ve never seen any plaster intaglios in-the-wild. Congrats on that fabulous find! Dontcha just luv it when a seller doesn’t know what they have😎.

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@patina @Bmpdvm
I’m a lover of all types of jewelry. I really do obsess about jewelry more than a person should!

I have been through periods where I was very interested in certain gemstones, or old cut diamonds, or ethnic jewelry, vintage costume, etc.
I love to learn about it all, and I frequently go down the rabbit hole, immersing myself in specific jewelry research.

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Thanks @Patina !
I was thinking that your lady in the lower right might be Minerva/Athena because of the spear?
Just a guess. I like her, especially the clouds!

And I do love my Wedgwood! I have a modest collection of Wedgwood Jasperware.

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@Stracci I think we may be jewelry twinsies! I do all those same things when it comes to jewelry, lol. Two areas of jewelry that I haven’t collected are Georgian and Memento Mori. Pretty much anything else antique/vintage, at minimum, I’ve got some samples of it :slightly_smiling_face:. That lady cameo is a puzzle - I’ll have to brush up on some Minerva/Athena research. I sure hope in a next life I come back as a Gemologist & a Jewelry Historian :blush:.

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That is an epic collection of outstanding cameos! :heart:
They must have been fun to collect!

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Sweet collection!
Interesting that some are not of people. I’ve never seen that before.

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These two are from the 1950s, made in Italy by Borghese. They are ceramic, in the Grand Tour style.

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@Stracci Those are really cool. Haven’t seen anything like them before. They’d look terrific on a denim shirt/jacket along with a NA jet necklace.

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I love looking at all the cameos. I was never interested in them, but you guys have sparked my appreciation of their beauty. My only cameos are from my grandmother.

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Really love the ring. My first cameo was from my grandmother too.

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Oooh love all the grand tour stuff. Nice pieces!

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The three on the right are buttons from the late 19th century (button-collector here).

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@nanc9354
These are beautiful! Gorgeous ring.
Those earrings! I love the curl in the lady’s hair. I would get a lot of milage out of these…on non-turquoise days. (There are a few now and then😜)

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@Indriaza
Buttons! Who knew? Just amazing.
And the BIG one. You must get this into a frame, it’s lovely.

Thank you @Indriaza and @Stracci I loved your info about the plaster casts for tourists. Indriaza I love the cameo with the wagon. Do you collect Native American buttons? I think we have a thread for that. Yours are super pretty.

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Love all of these but the one in the center is amazing!

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