Featured Cameo Earrings Quiz

Here am I!

Total wrong description made to cheat...

Provenance private collection....

My collection is private, as was my mother's and Grand's... We have bought "sh.t" too.

Even claiming they were obtained legally (not from an archaeologic site, for sure)
Vaguely in ancient Roman style (very vaguely).
The soldered loops between the pendants and the hooks, the soldered other loops on the back of the bar, the CAMEOS and their ondulated flat wire mount!!! The Indian faceted "emerald" roundels, the gold color and "feeling" of it (these Roman Empire ANCIENT jewels were made in 22 or 24 carat gold!).

For the condition, I've seen very fine ancient earrings with all dangles complete, only mis-shaped hooks due to the high carat gold's softness, with still high lustre pearls after more than 1000 years
This one, dating between 100 BC to 400 AC was found in Jerusalem during archaelogical searches in a Byzantine layer. Amazing!

This site seems to show authentic ancient jewellery:
https://ancienttouch.com/roman gold jewelry.htm

@Bronwen, this quizz is a top notch idea!

 

Thank you. So glad we got your excellent observations.

These are the 2 things that spoke volumes to me. The faceted green rondels might be evidence of some restoration, but good grief, the cameos!

Here are the originals:



Here is a pair that came up early on in an eBay search for shell cameo earrings in the vintage jewellery category, list ordered by least expensive first:



The 1940s/50s cameos scream FAKE! No further examination required, really.

 

Little question @Bronwen, did Roman Empire cameo cutters use shell (anyway the syle of the ladies is wrong)?

 

Yes, probably more than we know, since shell cameos do not survive the millennia as well as stone. Some have made it.

And yes! One of my rules for dating cameos, in addition to the nose rule, is that it can't be any older than the hairstyle. When did you last see a Greek/Roman goddess or noblewoman with her hair arranged like this?

 

I did not make clear my query. For me, the question is: was that a standard means for ending a bead wire?

 

It's not a detail of construction I have paid any attention to. (I only have eyes for cameos/intaglios.) Going by the few examples we have posted here, appears to have been used a fair bit, so that feature of the quiz earrings not a giveaway, although they're much closer to spherical than on surviving old ones.

 

Always good to have some fund after a test. Since we're looking at cameo earrings:

THE ODD COUPLE
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I didn't comment on those, because to me that is your territory. Cameos of this type give me the heebie-jeebies anyway, even if they are well made, so I steer well clear of them. Did wonder why they were wearing hair curlers, but if you were all right with them, who am I to say anything about them.... But it turns out you weren't.

This thread was a bit puzzling to me, at first I thought it was a quiz, which is why I didn't take part, I generally don't. When you tagged us I thought you were considering buying them, hence my observations on the things I know a little about. I am probably having a brain fog day.

 

In a situation like this, I tend to think, "wow, one of those is a replacement for a lost piece."

Wouldn't it be most fun if the better one was the replacement?

 

I would see the cameo as a decorative part in the repoussé, just like a glass cabochon would be. But my focus is different to yours. I can imagine to you, as a cameo collector, the focus is on the cameo. That is why we have a forum, to see things from different perpecrtives.

 

What I said - I think you already knew this

Do you want these for yourself, or what?

 

Ah, I'm not the only one who is confused.

 

@Bronwen.....does this clarify anything for you??

 

(this thread is now cracking me up)

 

I live that way, if running on insufficient sleep and far too little caffeine.

 

A constant for me. So is confusion.

 

Ah, it 's official. Confusion in some, leading to others being cracked up.

 

Since cameos are my territory, you can pretty much be assured that when I put up something like this (just meant to be fun, like puzzles & trivia questions in a newspaper), there's something about the cameo(s), for better or worse.

Wanted to hear what regulars at the cameo show & tell thread would have to say. Jivvy bravely waded in; had to tag you & kyra. Your observations about characteristic construction methods were really useful & add to the knowledge I can apply if ever trying to assess something similar.

'if you were all right with them' I nearly went into cardiac arrest when I saw this listing.

 

Just so. And the collective antiquers brain continually amazes me at what it knows, what it figures out & what it seeks & finds out.

 

Not in the least. But I am now in the excellent company of the other confused souls here.