Featured Is this red corol stone?

Hello! I'm new to this community. I was wondering if anyone knew if these are red coral stone pieces. They were handed down and I was trying to find out more about them.

Thanks! Mollie

 

The floral pin looks like vintage costume - brass and glass. The other pin/brooch looks like Victorian gold fill with real coral cameos. The bracelet...dunno. It looks like the settings for the cameos are the same. They're not marked; they often weren't.

 

Hello Molly, welcome.
Could we see details of some of the cameos?

 

Those do look like red coral cameos, and it appears that the bracelet and the pin were meant to go together.

 

Totally agree, Ruth. The floral one looks stamped brass with glass cabs, 1940s or later, the other brooch back indicates late 19th and the cameos would typically be coral. Naples carved. I'd like to see the clasp on the bracelet: it certainly started life with the brooch.

 

Yep. Those went together. I'd get it checked just in case it's real gold. One of my "melt" pieces today was sold as a $3 piece of costume jewelry. The clasp is marked 417 - i.e. 10k if you know the numbers. Somebody didn't. There isn't a lot of weight, unlike the potential for that bracelet.

 

nice photo's....

 

And I love the red coral.............

 

OMGoodness, that set is lovely!!!!! Jackpot!!!!

 

Mollie, if you have the time, could you add a close up picture of the coral? I would really love to see it.
A detail of the coral can show if it is carved, and possibly characteristic coral lines, etc.
From the pictures you posted, it looks like the cameos have soft features, usually a characteristic of molded faux coral cameos.
I regularly see Spanish and Italian molded faux coral cameos set in solid gold in auctions. They are not sold as fakes, they were made in southern Europe as a perfectly acceptable alternative to the expensive handcarved coral cameos. Up til about 50 years ago gold was relatively cheap in southern Europe, coral cameos were not.
This is not to put your jewellery down, I think it is very nice, and faux coral cameos set in solid gold do well in auction.

 

Awesome! Thank you for your response!

 

Get the gold checked on those too; if that bracelet is even low-carat gold, the metal alone could be worth a good chunk of change.

 

I'm so grateful for your knowledge! If you know if it's molded or not, please let me know. I won't be offended! I tried to take up close picture, let me know if they are good enough. Thanks!

 

Thanks for your very knowledgeable response! Here is the picture of the clasp.

 

Thanks!
Yes, they are molded. They have those softer molded features, not carved, and the material is even slightly translucent. But they are very pretty, could be Italian. They certainly have that Italian abundant look, wonderful.

 

Thanks for your knowledge! I was wondering why they weren't marked. Could it still be gold if one of the little balls that holds the coral is broken off?

 

The metal may be gold over sterling; it's hard to say from here. Some real gold turns colors too if it's lower karat. And then there's wear to gold-fill ... 'tis a puzzlement.

 

That clasp is right for the date, no issue with it and a decent Etruscan revival style band.

I'm not seeing mould blown glass. The backs certainly aren't. I've seen cameos of that date which look fire polished but were proper carved coral: having watched carvers work in Ercolani, it's astonishing the finish they can get.

That brooch back and the bracelet are far too early for moulded celluloid, of course and there's a smell test for that.

You'd need to get a decent high lumen spotlight on it, and a loupe to see if there are any bubbles. There is a test for coral which involves using a tiny drop of lemon juice but I hate recommending it. If you put them to your cheek, warm or cold, and do they stay cold?

 

Maybe this helps:

The stone has a sugary, slightly translucent look you don't see on real coral. New coral has a glassy look, it very slowly turns buttery with (old) age.
There are no sharp carving lines, which even worn antique handcarved cameos have. Carvers carve a bit underneath a clothing fold or a flower petal, or behind a neck or cheek to show it is really handcarved, these cameos don't have that.
This is just about the cameos in the bracelet, I have a feeling the cameos in the brooch are real carved coral. The brooch is made in the same style as the bracelet, but could be the real deal. I'd love to see details of that, both back and front.

Coral: Glassy look, sharper lines, coral structure lines and spots, carving underneath and behind areas, deep carving inside flowers and leaves. Both these cameos have another characteristic most coral cameos have: deep holes at the corners of eyes and mouths.

https://www.langantiques.com/coral-cameo-brooch-pendant.html



https://www.1stdibs.com/jewelry/bro...tural-coral-cameo-brooch-pendant/id-j_382912/