Posted 4 years ago
dollraves
(1 item)
I recently rediscovered this cameo after my mother passed away; it was one of her favorite pieces. I always assumed it was resin since I'd never seen blue cameos otherwise, but after placing it next to one of my resin cameos, it's clearly nicer than that and appears to actually be carved. After some research, I see that blue agate is a common substrate for carving cameos, but this seems a lighter blue than what I see online. I'm guessing it's like most of her costume jewelry and comes from the late 50s to late 60s, but since she's passed, I have no way of knowing.
Any ideas?
Gorgeous cameo, that blue background makes it very special and really lovely, I can see why it was a favorite piece of your mother's. Beautiful post, welcome to CW
It looks quite special, I love the way the head and neck are white and then the carving seems to go more in a fantasy mode with part of her torso and then the magnificence of the rose in the murky blue and white. Gorgeous !~
Thanks for the warm welcomes, Newfld and PhilDMorris! I'm excited to be here, and can see I'm going to be addicted to this site. :D
Gorgeous family heirloom . Thanks for sharing it and welcome to CW
Blue (dyed) agate is a fairly new material for making ultrasonically cut cameos. I think your understanding of the nature of this one is pretty much correct. Figure has a 1950s look to her (how cameos looked in the 50s, not regular women). Judging from the single photo I would say she is ceramic or glass. The resin cameos you're thinking of are also newer than this.
A striking piece, but real value is that it was your mom's. Will you wear it?
@cameoslueth YES! I absolutely plan on wearing this beautiful piece. <3 I have adored it since I can remember and look forward to many, many years of showing it off. :D
Took it to a chemist/materials engineer friend and we had a look under the microscope. It's definitely molded, a blue resin/epoxy with white particulates added, which was then carved. You can see a few bubbles under the microscope; in fact, if you look closely at the rose above you can see a bubble with the naked eye. The chin has an undercut that can only come from carving, we think.
An interesting mix of manufactured and hand made!
Thank you for looking into her true nature & sharing what you learned with us. It helps to train the eye.