Featured Need some opinions on this tiger eye cameo ring

I wanted to buy this earlier for myself but they were asking $95. The gold setting appears to be quite old and has some decent weight to it. It is probably a lower karat gold but I am fine with that. It fits great however my only concern is the cameo. I believe it to not be original. I can see some glue being used on this piece. For $95 I would like some opinions on this...

 

I see the slight gap that prompts your suspicions. It's possible the cameo is original to the setting, but may have fallen out & been replaced with some security measures. I wouldn't consider it a detriment if it is a marriage, as long as it's not conspicuous the cameo does not fit there.

The cameo is actually quite unusual in subject. Mostly you see helmeted figures/male oriented subjects generally. Maybe this is an argument for the cameo being a replacement. If that seam, visible in the last pic, on the underside of the shank indicates it has been sized down, we may be looking at a man's ring that has been reworked for a woman to wear. The cameo may have come from something like a stickpin.

What is going on here?

 

I also have a tiger eye cameo, in a bar pin, that is a female. It is not as well carved as the one in the first post here. On the other hand, I paid only $7 for it!

Unfortunately these are the best pics I can get. I think this is an early 20th century piece? Maybe that will help with the original question. From the photos it looks like a man's ring. So it is unusual to have a female cameo on it, as Bronwen said.





Oops, I need to edit one of the photos before uploading.

 

Here is the other picture. I'm really not informed on how to take in-focus closeups with my phone camera. Keep meaning to educate myself.

 

Yes, it's not that a tiger eye ring with a female subject is so rare, it's finding one in a chunky ring like that.

Yours is really pretty. She's wearing a laurel wreath, so that suggests she is a Muse, although doesn't ID her as a particular one. Cameo in the ring could have come out of brooch similar to this, perhaps not in real gold. Agree your brooch is early 20th. Thanks for adding it to the analysis.

 

I also posted in the cameos info thread... if I ever learn to take in-focus closeups with my phone I will update there. I do still have a digital camera so maybe that would be another option.

 

It requires a super macro setting to get good closeups of small things. Your digital camera may have this capability, or may have only macro. You may get good results using neither & zooming in.

 

I hope you don't mind, I adjusted your first photo so we can see the carving, it's quite pretty

 

That really does bring it up, more, I think than my attempt for the Cameo thread:

 

I have 2 tiger eye cameo rings. The subjects are both male, but one is oval with a laureate head, so a poet, not a warrior. The other is this one, unusual for the frontal presentation & signed inside the shank Vergé:

 

Maybe someone mentioned this. I'm in a hurry and didn't read everything.

I think the cameo is original to the ring. The ring has been sized, so that would have necessitated the cameo removal. So glue may have been used when the cameo was put back in.

 

I mentioned resizing but did not know it necessitated removing the stone, so good additional info.

 

Too hard to be specific with your photos.The metal is die stamped and assembled from multiple pieces and the seam at the bottom means nothing,just the way they were made. Is the top base of the stone curved and does the brighter gold line through the hair on the left side continue to the base of the stone past the carving?

 

The stone would not have to be removed if the ring was resized.

 

The table of the cameo looks flat on both sides to me. Is that what you're asking?

 

Yes,but it looks curved to me,just a perceptive thing with photos,that's why I asked.

 

Is there a small chip in the circled area or just darker stone.

Think boxed area is what Holly is asking about, but also, what's the white?

 

Can't tell you how often I have to ask if something is concave or convex. Bought the cameo I wear all the time now thinking from seller photos that back was concave & cameo was glass. Since competing bidders didn't go past $100, others must have seen it that way too. Georgian hardstone, flat back with beveled edges. I was reversing the depths.

 

Thank you! And thanks to Bronwen, too.

 

Everyone moaned about my photos too so.........
Try the Camera+2 App if you are using an iPhone. It's not as good as a proper camera but better than my standard phone for Macro pics. It's not great for further away pics so I still use the standard camera app for that. I bought a large loupe and am getting better about juggling phone/loupe and subject although I still have to enlist a third hand (small child) to press the button sometimes!