Antique  Jewellery carved from Lava

Seeing on the news about the underseas volcano erupting neat Tonga reminded me of a very unusual material used for making antique Jewellery - Lava from volcanoes. More specifically most of the lava jewellery we see was made from the Lava from Mount Vesuvius in Italy.

The Lava is soft and lends its self well to being carved into intricate shapes and as such was used to make a huge variery of cameo jewellery. Antique Bracelets, necklaces and especially brooches can all be set with cameos carved from lava. The Lava comes in a variety of colours varying from white through sludgy beige colours through reddish tones to almost black.

The trend for lava cameo jewellery began in the early Victorian era, ladies undertaking the Grand Tour of Italy would call in at Pompei and purchase a piece of Lava Cameo Jewellery as a souvenir of their visit.

Lava cameos are carved into a wide variety of subjects similar to those found in shell cameos: Classical scenes including Roman and Greek gods and goddesses. You can find famous historical figures and political figures from the Victorian era. A lady could also commission a lava cameo to be carved in her own likeness if she wished. The lava cameos are normally found mounted into gold or silver to form the jewellery

 

Care of your Antique Lava Cameo Jewellery.

Please remember Lava is a soft material, this is what helped it to be carved so well in the first place.  It is soft enough to be easily damaged, I often find lava cameos with their noses a little flat or a curl missing from their hair.  Please take care when you store your lava cameos, they should not be placed anywhere where they can knock against another piece of jewellery. Cleaning should be done with a soft dry brush only, lava is porous and if likely to stain if you get it wet.  If in doubt I would say don’t clean a piece as you will most likely make it worse.

Sourcing Antique Lava Cameo Jewellery

These cameo pieces are rarer than shell cameos, you will need to hunt to find them. AntiuqesAvenue occasionally has a piece of lava cameo jewellery to sell or you could try hunting around the larger antique fairs – good luck and do send me a picture if  you find any and I will add it here.