Featured Identifying Material - Locket & Ring

Greetings,

I have a ring and locket which I’ve purchased and would like an opinion on what they are made of.

Locket I believe to either be Whitby Jet or perhaps vulcanite? The inside looks carved and I have a feeling the little brass ring once had a bit of glass in it.

The ring: With the ring I’m guessing it’s celluloid or bakelite.

Any guesses appreciated.

 

I can see Whitby Jet with my totally untrained eye.
https://davidsnola.com/products/881212?variant=11628874661932


This celluloid example has the "crusty patches" like yours, so it could be celluloid
https://www.tias.com/10666/PictPage/3923766083.html

But, now you will have to wait for the people who really know their Whitby Jets to chime in with their opinions.

 

you do pick up interesting items BMRT.....!!!!

i'll sit this one out............. but watch intently !!

 

Jet, I think, for the locket, although I don't feel 100% certain. Can't recall ever seeing something quite like the ring before & actually looks like amber to me. Have you UVed it? Some useful info here:

https://jewellerymuse.wordpress.com...jewellery-materials-from-amber-to-whitby-jet/

 

It seems unlikely that the locket is vulcanite. It would be difficult to mold the form with the deep undercuts under the lady's hair. More likely to be carved.

 

I have seen pieces that combined jet with a man made material & this photo, if it is the cameo lady that is on the other side, makes me think she is a separate piece:



But overall I think it is too black, too shiny & too crisp to be antique Vulcanite, which tends to go brown with time, particularly at edges such as where the lady's profile meets the background. Guessing any brownishness here is grunge.

 

I'm assuming you don't think the ring is stone?
Not cold when you touch it to your face?

 

the ring looks like a natural material to me....like an amber.....

oooops...sorry...

 

Jet test: get yourself a bit of unglazed porcelain, like the inside of a loo lid, and very very gently smear the item on it. A sttreak means jet and that looks spot on to me.

 

Looks similar to this mourning locket (jet):
https://attic-dc.com/item/ZNW/antiq...meo-pendant-by-legendarybeast/legendary-beast

 

Could the ring be yellow jade?

 

Here is an interesting link on Whitby jet (well interesting to me anyway as a novice lol). https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/blog/guide-to-whitby-jet/

 

More specifically, the ring looks like Baltic amber.

https://www.ambermosaic.com/product...-amber-rose-ring-statement-ring-gemstone-ring

https://www.catawiki.com/l/2300659-replica-one-of-the-kind-hand-carved-baltic-amber-ring

 

The inside reminds me of bog oak, but I can't see anything bog oak-like on the outside. Bog oak jewellery was made in southern Germany, of a nicer quality than in Ireland (apologies to the Irish ).

This listing is for a cameo locket described as bog oak, it looks very much like BMRT's, but it shows bog oak striations:


https://www.rubylane.com/item/815517-632/Antique-Victorian-Bog-Oak-Lady-Cameo

 

For what?

 

I have never noticed another of these that looked like or was described as bog oak, & I do run across them in my hunt for cameos. If I had only the RL seller's photos to go by, with no description & out of the context of this discussion, my best assessment would be Vulcanite or similar, all parts, with the lady being a separate piece. Could be the seller's slightly out of focus pix that give me the impression that the lines are less sharp, more rounded than OP's. The lady is definitely molded. All that brown on the outside, which has been exposed to air & sun, & the much blacker interior, which has been more protected, are another indicator.

This is OP's. Not sure either Vulcanite or bog oak would chip in this way:

 

for weighing in when i said i wouldn't...

 

When did we ever make that a rule that couldn't be broken? Weigh away!

 

Well, I was trying.......
but no one suggested amber, and a close look at the blowups of the ring ...& I could see creamy...then translucent ....& some shading.....so that's my call.
I also...without it in hand.....like the black for vulcanite ! but WDIK ??

 

Actually, I thought that might be what you were apologizing for, although still no need, that you popped in with something that had already been said.