Looking for info on cameo

Hello

I'm looking for any info related to cameo I got recently.
If anyone can date it and give an idea how valuable this piece is in terms of collectibility.
It is a big size set in 14k white gold.

Thanks much

 

Lenny there is a special forum here for cameos for you to have a look at too @Bronwen

 

Sorry didn't know. Can moderator move this post to appropriate forum.

Thanks

 

Lovely cameo

 

Don't worry, this is the right forum. Houseful meant a cameo thread in the jewelry forum, but it is ok to post a cameo question here. Bronwen is our cameo expert, Houseful has already tagged her.

 

It's not a forum. It's a specific thread in this forum. You can re-post there, if you like, but I doubt its necessary (though they'd probably appreciate the photo). I think you're fine where you are. You have "cameo" in the title, so the knowledgeable people will probably see it. Sadly, I am not one of them.

It looks like shell to me, and nicely done.

(I could mess things up with a thread on Cameo books, none of which has anything to do with carved cameos, but that's another story.)

 

Forgot to say, it is beautiful. Here is a guess, Bronwen will probably correct me, mid 20th century, helmet shell, Italy. The flowers could refer to Flora, or it is just a pretty girl with flowers.

 

Hi,
Cameos with the added jewelry are call Habille.
greg

 

I believe it is "en habille", French for dressed. Bronwen will be able to tell us more.

 

Bronwen can really only confirm what has already been said. Helmet shell cameo, probably cut in Italy, set elsewhere. This look was popular in the 1930s. The general type is pretty common, the goddess Flora morphed into a generic pretty lady. The value in these cameos en habillé is more in the gold & the stones, assuming they are genuine diamonds. You would need a jeweller's appraisal to have any accurate idea about that aspect. Condition appears to be excellent & the presence of an earring in addition to the pendant makes this one fancier than average.

Here are others currently being offered on eBay, ordered with highest price first. You can see what is being asked. By following a few most similar to yours you can see whether or not they sell for that.

 

But Bronwen does it so perfectly, better than any of us can. And she always adds information we humble forum dwellers are ignorant about.

 

Color me blushing.

 

Hi,
My lack of French is appalling always heard the habille but never the en. Sorry,
I should learn not to speak too much.
greg

 

I always love your posts, your knowledge and your insights. Please speak as much as you like.

 

It is routinely shortened just to habillé, & since the word processing function of eBay US does not have an option to insert what for English speakers are 'special characters', usually you see just habille. It gets the point across; I'm not bothered by seeing it that way. (What does annoy me is when sellers list something as a cameo that is actually a cabochon.) My four years of high school French did not teach me this phrase, nothing appalling about not knowing it. Wallowing in the glyptics world the way I do, I learn all sorts of 'weird' words, such as anguiped & apotropaic. Being a self-appointed cameo educator, I try to dispense the most accurate info I can.