Cameo Jewellery is back in fashion, for many years now it has been considered dated and Cameo Jewellery was something which jut sat in Grandmas Jewellery box. Now these pieces of antique and vintage jewellery are being brought out of the dark and show off again.  The range of antique and vintage cameo jewellery available is huge, brooches of course, pendants, rings, earrings, bracelets and charms .

  The ancients in Greece and Rome loved cameo jewellery and apparently was also popular through the middle ages and into the Renaissance. Today the Cameos we see are at the very earliest Georgian but most likely to be Victorian and later.

What is a cameo?

Originally cameo was carved from stone or shell which had multicoloured layers so that the design and background were of different colours. This type of Cameo was popular in ancient Greece and Rome and the subjects carved at that time remain popular in more modern cameo jewellery.

A design which is carved from behind the material so that the main surface is called an Intaglio and is not normally included in Cameo Jewellery. 

 The term Cameo now embraces a raised picture design which can be either the same or different colour to the background and may be hand carved or in many cases the design in now molded into the jewellery. The brooch above is a carved shell cameo which is the type of cameo jewellery which most of use know.

Types of Cameo Jewellery.

Brooches are by far the most common piece of cameo jewellery, the large flat surface of a brooch is excellent for cameos although smaller ones can be joined together in a piece of jewelry where a curved shape is required such as this lava cameo

Cameo Materials

Most commonly we see cameos which have been hand carved from shell, the standard beige and cream/ white colours or the pretty Queen Conch shell cameo which gives a pink and white colour. Lava Cameo are carved from volcanic material which can range from a white colour through to almost black. Cameos can also be seen carved in bone and Ivory and a whole range of gemstones and hard stones.  Other cameos are found in Jet, Vulcanite,  Ceramics ( Wedgwood Jasper) and glass. Be warned nowadays cameos are being copies in plastic and sold as vintage, I do not know of any plastic cameos which have a collectable value and whilst some can be pretty they are are mainly worthless and plastic cameos are probably best avoided by the true cameo collector.

Came0 Subjects

The ancient Greeks and Romans carved cameos including those classical of Gods and Goddesses and of course the Emperors and famous folks of the day.  This classical tradition was continued by the Georgians and Victorians and so many of the Victorian Cameos we see today can be traced back to a Greek or Roman myth. Some popular subjects are Leda and the Swan, Hebe and the Eagle, Pliny’s Doves and Aurora Goddess of the Dawn. Cameos were are popular souvenir from The Grand Tour of Europe which was a very popular adventure during the 18th and 19th centuries and the rich could commission portrait cameos of themselves .  During the 20th century cameos often portray pretty girls and glamorous ladies.

Cameo Habille The Cameo Habille is a special and sought after cameo. The term is French and means “dresses cameo”. A cameo habille is a cameo where the subject is wearing jewellery such as this wonderful Cameo Ring where the lady in the portrait is wearing a real diamond necklace

Buy Cameo Jewellery

AntiquesAvenue often has genuine Antique and Vintage Cameos to buy, here is an example you might like: 

Antique cameo brooch child drawing Victorian jewellery

A really lovely piece of antique Victorian cameo jewellery. This cameo brooch is hand carved from shell and set into a gold plated frame. The carving would have been done in Italy and is of very fine quality although there is a short crack right at the very edge close up by the frame hence the reasonable price for  such a wonderful piece of jewellery.

This brooch measures about 5.5 cms long and 5.3 cms wide.