Just curious as to thoughts about this cameo. I know it’s not Native American, possibly Italian? No silver mark, but it
does have a Hallmark.
it doesn’t look real to me. the discoloration doesn’t look natural.
You were right. Dyed howlite.
It is an interesting piece. The silver looks like it does have some age, and the carved piece I think of Italian. We dye howlite because it is soft and absorbs color easily, but you think it would not make a good stone to carve. Can you tell us what you know about the piece?
I agree with Jason…this piece seems too old to be a dyed howlite and the style of the carving is very art nouveau. In addition to that the darker matrix of the stone reminds me of marcasite, hematite or Galena. The crazing in the stone has no excess blue coloring which you would normally fine in those crevices when you have dyed stone…I’m thinking this is some sort of calcitic type stone and the setting is still a mystery since they used the type of flowers commonly seen in NA jewelry…can you take couple pics of the whole back and the whole front in Natural light? Thank you