Featured Cameo with pearls and black agate?

Not sure what the black material is, feels like stone and is quite cold, no chips at all. I am guessing agate, what do you all think? Pretty sure the metal is 10K gold, but I will test again to be sure. 2 pearls missing.
I love the pearl on the back side, any significance to that? Any other thoughts about this piece?
I don't see cameos very often. This one came from a pile of misc. jewelry that I was assured had already be seen by a jeweler and anything "good" taken out.
Thanks!

 

I know nothing about jewelry but that is stunning !

 

The back could be onyx. Would think that the metal is gold. Late 19C? What a gorgeous piece.

Maybe passed on because of the missing pearls. Someone else's loss for sure.

Wait for others, no idea about the pearl in the back. I really like the scene in this cameo. Great find.

 

Thank you both. I also thought it was lovely, even through all the dirt that was there when I got it.
I wondered onyx or agate. I have had a locket similar in design, though not a cameo, and its black backing was banded agate.

 

Best I could do for green with envy. Have not seen this with a pendant before, but there are lots of flip rings out there that have a cameo on one side, black onyx with a single little diamond in the middle on the other, so you could wear either way round. That's what I believe is the case here: that it is made to be reversible.

The cameo is quite a nice helmet shell one, although the cutter had some trouble with those pesky hands. Based on image, quality of work, fanciness if setting & the ability to wear it as a piece suitable to mourning, I would put it to turn of the 20th century. Would be extremely surprised if it was not gold.

Should not be such a big deal to replace the missing seed pearls

Essentially the same thing, both chalcedony (microcrystalline quartz). Agate is a kind of formation, not a different mineral. Black onyx is chalcedony that has been dyed to that color. There's no banding visible here, so it would not generally be seen as agate.

And that, folks, is my 20,000th post!

 

Beautiful cameo. Congrats for finding it!

 

Congrats!

 

Beautiful piece. Makes you wonder what the jeweler took.

It looks to me like that front bit had to be mounted to the black. Maybe the pearl on the back covers the connection?

 

Thank you Bronwen. Great information as usual and much appreciated.
20K posts - WOW!

 

Lovely thing. Bronwen, there is natural black onyx as well.

 

Congrats @Bronwen on so many informative posts!

 

It is stunning, drg!

 

Congratulations! Very valuable posts they are too!

 

Yay @Bronwen, for 20,000 posts!
I always look forward to your postings! I have learned so much from you!

 

That is a beauty!

And not all jewelers catch everything, I took some jewelry to a jeweler years ago before I bought my own test kit. She didn't test anything, looked it over and dismissed it all as costume, later I found a couple of the pieces were 14k

 

Made me giggle, of course you are correct.
But the FOUR toes on the right foot are curious indeed.
While I believe this to be antique, the cutting itself is interesting to say the least. If I saw it without the onyx setting and without the pearls part of the setting, I'd think it was much much newer. There appears to be small "bump wear" to the edge of the onyx, honest wear and age.

I keep squinting at the cameo setting, trying to figure out if it's the original cameo or not. With so much damages to the pearl surround, not sure how the cameo wasn't lost, chipped or damaged? What are the chances this could be a replacement cameo?

Congrats and THANK YOU for 20k posts, Bronwen <3

 

Threadzilla forgot to mention the marshmellow clouds beneath her feet!

 

The side view of the top of the cameo sticks out so high that I doubt it would sit properly when worn as a pendant on the black diamond side. If that was the original cameo setting, seems to me like it would have better protected the pearls..
Just my humble opinion.

Everything about the artwork of the carved cameo appears modern to me.

 

Today's jewellers, the overwhelming majority of them, know sh*t about cameos & just judge worth by the setting.

11111111111111111111111111114 [This is Pontiac's comment.] Mine is that it looks to me like the earlier work from Scognamiglio & cutters who learned from Giovanni Noto. If you look at their current work you can see how it has become more cartoonish.

http://www.cascosrl.it/en.about_us.htm

The convention had been that placing a figure in clouds like this indicated that they were on Mt. Olympus. This lady is tripping the light fantastic (or maybe just tripping) without belonging to the pantheon.

Probably half pearls. If glue was involved in holding them in place, I can easily imagine some of them losing their grip. I don't think the piece has taken any real bashing.

Very slim, since there is no uniformity to the shapes, which makes it difficult to substitute one for another in the same bezel.

 

Yes it does, much like this cutting does to me. Thank you for answering all of my questions, Bronwen <3
I'd have had to pass when I saw the four-toed foot!