Featured Mysterious Lady pendant found in the ground

I found this in the soil at a known wagon stop in California. The edge which appears
as a "winding" came out of the soil untarnished yellow, telling me it is gold. The
rest was soiled dark until I cleaned it up. The stone is a translucent orange. There is a profile of a woman carved into the stone. She has a hat and flowing long hair.
What is this motif?

Also note the corroded ferrous loop which I believe is a repair because when I look at the top center of the gold wire part of the pendant with a loupe, it appears that the original wire chain attachment had broken off. You can see a link of the original gold chain or chain mount still attached to the ferrous loop. So its owner must have cared about it.

There are no makers marks or gold content marks.

I just wondered how old this piece is and where it was crafted? Who is the lady?
Also any remarks on gold content? I think part of the frame is solid gold while the wire and stone bracket are filled or plated. Also what kind of stone is it?

Apologize for the less-than-perfect photos.
Thanks for looking, reading and for any info.

 

Wow!!!
What a story and find!

 

Looks like an old bracelet charm......Mom had one like that...but from the 50's...yours does look a lot older.
Or it could be a watch fob.....the Carnelian is not spectacular.....but looks good.
You'll have to take it to a jeweler to get it tested...

 

Called an intaglio.
Are you sure it is a woman and not a man with a helmet?

Probably a watch fob. I'd be surprised if it was solid gold. Usually these were rolled gold, a type of plating which was thicker than today's plating.

Early 1900s
Agree with the stone being carnelian.

 

Hi,
I agree with the others that is a watch fob. Nice find. I once found a silver three cent piece between the stepping stones on my front walkway.
greg

 

Here is the FOB carnelian edited in different color, negative, etc... in hopes of seeing the head better. The head isn't wearing the typical helmet or Mercury's winged hat seen on such FOBs, but is wearing a hat of some kind. If I had to guess, I'd probably guess a male, but am not 100% sure.

--- Susan

 

Susan.....Somehow I figured that with the Title......you were going to show up sooner or later ............

 

I believe the intaglio head is suppose to be of a Roman soldier with an olive laural around his head. There are several pieces out there of Victorian carnelians, cameos, bloodstones, etc... with similar generic Roman soldiers intaglio heads. Here is one example:

https://www.rubylane.com/item/669694-5255/Antique-14k-Yellow-Gold-Bloodstone-Intaglio

--- Susan

 

Watching this thread with great interest. I have a fob or pendant in a dark green with a few red inclusions and a very similar (although less refined) finding at the top of the frame around the stone. Very similar intaglio carving. Haven't had time to take pictures - it took me quite a while just to find it!

Came from my mother's enormous stash of jewelry, much of it apparently previously owned by at least 2 maybe 3 generations before her. There were 2 or maybe 3 other intaglio carved stone items in there when we (my three sisters and I) divvied it all up.

 

That green stone sounds like bloodstone; it was popular for intaglios. I'd agree the OP's piece might be older, and odds are it was a fob. Without testing it, the metal could be anything.

 

Thanks, antique jewelry experts!

Ladybranch, your link item looks like it could be the same artist
or at least the same method of craftmanship!
Thanks for that! And your negative image of this item to help
see it better.

It had occurred to me that it could be a man not a lady...and I
can now understand the Roman helmet thing too.

So I guess its a Roman soldier motif, man's watch fob.
I guess Roman soldiers were considered to be cool back then...
Was this a man's watchfob? Can't assume anything...

Items found in the immediate vicinity include coins from the 1880's.
This item was about 9" deep, next to an ancient boulder perfect for
sitting on...

IMHO, when an item comes out of the ground after a century or
more with that distinctive yellow gleam, it is gold.
After all, this is the Golden State, haha.

The question is not so much when did this item hit the dirt, but when
was it crafted? And where? Who???

Getting ready for another expedition up in there...with my
snakebite kit this time, haha. I have an acquaintance up there I'd
rather not run into...and no cell signal!

 

I have a similar one, but the stone in mine is goldstone..... I figured late Victorian, Edwardian, as you say, around 1900s.

 

British rather than American given the age. Probably an Italian intaglio in a gold setting, and might be as early as the mid 19th. A fob, indeed.