NEED HELP WITH CAMEO BROACH, MAYBE SHIPWRECK FIND?

lovedigging · Jul 23, 2008

Got a new Mine Lab Excaliber 2 a few weeks ago and have been looking forward to hitting the beach to try it out. This week we're on vacation and I've been walking the beach a few hours each morning. Today is our 5th day here and as of this morning I've found 5 rings, and a ton of change, which I'll post with my final count this coming weekend. This morning I found this beautiful cameo brooch in the slew way. Not quite sure what to make of it, can anyone identify what I've found exactly? It appears to have 8 diamonds encircling it. Not sure if that's ivory or not. Does anyone know how to determine this?

Ron B · Jul 23, 2008

Boy, it sure looks old!
It doesn't appear to be ivory to my eyes however.

GRB

ivan salis · Jul 23, 2008

excellant find I must say --by the general looks of it I'd say its a victorian era type cameo brooch item (say 1850 to 1900 era rough guess without a lot of review yet) -- ivory would not be that pale glassy white color however --it yellows with age --looks like a type of milky white colored glass to me ( humm alabastar?) spellings off on it. --the catch looks a bit more modernish 1900 to say 1920 and the general overall condition appears too good to be that long in the elements -- perhaps its a more recently lost old item (an old family type hand me down item wore to the beach and lost) or maybe a modern copy of an old time brooch? --- I see that you cleaned it up greatly and it came out nicely --that being the case maybe it was made in the say 1920's and lost some time later at the beach. where you found it --that would account for the 20s era type catch -- its cruddy looking yet still good overall shape once cleaned up and its being found at the beach .

it could have been made in the 1920's but not lost until the 1980's ---

Iron Patch · Jul 23, 2008

ivan salis said:
excellant find I must say --by the general looks of it I'd say its a victorian era type cameo brooth item (say 1850 to 1900 era rough guess without a lot of review yet) -- ivory would not be that pale glassy white color however --it yellows with age --looks like a type of milky white colored glass to me

I also question the pin mechanism age and lack of corrosion on the reverse.

gemee · Jul 23, 2008

This is not from a shipwreck. This cameo would date to a period between 1900-1920'ish. It can be dated from the type of clasp it has, which is termed a C-type clasp. During the 20's safety type clasps started being used.

The metal appears to be a brass metal. The stones are foil backed rhinestones, and not diamonds. The cameo itself appears to be made out of a molded or pressed glass.
Retail value would vary between 40-75.00.

It appears that someone may have borrowed grandma's cameo, and got careless with it.

armchairQB30 · Jul 23, 2008

There is no corrosion, it looks like a garage sale find.

Mirage · Jul 23, 2008

However old it is it looks cool. Nice find. :icon_sunny:

Bob

lovedigging · Jul 23, 2008

armchairQB30 said:
There is no corrosion, it looks like a garage sale find.

Armchair, Guess I should have left it in it's "found" condition and not cleaned it up so well. It had a lot of black on it when I found it so I put it through a peroxide bath 3 times to clean it up and look for any additional markings. Sorry you feel my beach find came from a yard sale. I can assure you it didn't. I was simply posting asking for advise on this find.

lovedigging · Jul 23, 2008

gemee said:
This is not from a shipwreck. This cameo would date to a period between 1900-1920'ish. It can be dated from the type of clasp it has, which is termed a C-type clasp. During the 20's safety type clasps started being used.

The metal appears to be a brass metal. The stones are foil backed rhinestones, and not diamonds. The cameo itself appears to be made out of a molded or pressed glass.
Retail value would vary between 40-75.00.

It appears that someone may have borrowed grandma's cameo, and got careless with it.

Gemee, thanks for the positive reply! You gave me a great deal of info on this piece and it's much appreciated.

bootybay · Jul 23, 2008

I collect cameo's, first you can do this simple test.. but before I tell ya that, look on the bar part of the pin.. it looks like writing may be on that...possibly sterling or 925 written on it. Now.. take a pin, any kind of pin, hold the pin in a pr. of plyers so ya dont burn yourself, heat up the pin, on the very back of the cameo in an area close to the setting, press the hot pin into the cameo, if it goes into it...its that hard plastic ( cant remember the name of it) if it doesnt its possibly glass.. also, on a genuine carved shell cameo, usually the artist who carved it, would scribble or sign his name or initials on the back of it, and you really have to hold the cameo close to a light bulb and tilt it back n forthto see if its signed, mind you, alot of carves have crappy signatures... Also, on the back top of the cameo, where you see that loop at the top.. thats so you can put a chain thru it and wear it as a pendant as well. so you can wear that as a pin, or necklace.. It appears to be old but not over 100 yrs. The round loop should be on a swivel thingy.. anyways, your find is neat, am curious to see how you make out with the hot pin test.

Cameos were made from many things, of course the most sought after is carved shells..which can range from pale orange to darker orange in color.. there is a cameo called angel skin, its the pale pale pink color.. that too is very sought after.. then they used molds also to make them out of that old plastic, which I still cannot remember the name of that one.. and then also carved from gemstones too.. so you have many options to look at. either way, its one hell of a nice find.. am going back to look at the setting again to see if possibly they are marcasites, they appear shiny n sparkly and were used in sterling settings. Personally, I think your find is great.. real or not real.. nice find..

wish I was closer so I could actually see it..

also, it is against the rules here at tnet to doubt someones find is not a real find, ig I am not mistaken.

congrats on your neat find :thumbsup:

bootybay · Jul 23, 2008

Yep rhinestones in the setting, as marcasites were not prong set. :thumbsup:

please correct me if I am wrong, but the entire backing looks like its all metal? bad eyes here, sorry.

lovedigging · Jul 23, 2008

Bootybay said:
Yep rhinestones in the setting, as marcasites were not prong set.

please correct me if I am wrong, but the entire backing looks like its all metal? bad eyes here, sorry.

Bootybay, Thank You for your reply. The back is all metal...

creeper71 · Jul 23, 2008

armchairQB30 said:
There is no corrosion, it looks like a garage sale find.

Thought this kinda behavior wasn't allow in any of tnet forums

You always take the persons word on how it was found an never accuse them of lying about it... Some people need to read the agreement (again) when you first sign up or PBK thing about real or fake... anyways good find..wish I could find something that nice!!!

curbdiggercarl57 · Jul 23, 2008

Looks to be Victorian. Real nice condition!
CurbdiggerCarl

dcooper1 · Jul 23, 2008

Tcooper1
Another great week of finds. Seems like you still have the golden horseshoe!!!

Keep on diggin' it.

romeo-1 · Jul 23, 2008

Nice find...

get-r-dug · Jul 23, 2008

I would be tickled pink to find something like this even if it was plastic or glass or rhinestones or whatever.....so far all i've found have been rusted nail/screw type things and unidentifiable lumps....you've found a beautiful piece of someones history. It doesn't have to be valuable to mean something to someone or to you. Real nice. :thumbsup: