Antique Cameo Jewelry: the Value of an old heritage
The Italian tradition that conquered the world
Antique , vintage and old cameo brooches, pendants, rings and earrings, estate and valuable jewelry are extremely connected with italian tradition. In our shop online and in our selling point on Rialto you'll find a great selection of intaglios, art deco, liberty style edwardian and victorian cameos, rare pin and necklace in silver and in gold. Antique and vintage cameos are Eredi jovon Venice specialty because we are a 80 years old italian shop expert on estate and valuable jewelry. Since 3 generations we share knowledge with our customers: recently we wrote a book about Cameo: you can download it for free HERE.
The value of your antique, old or vintage cameo jewelry?
In our ebook you'll find a lot of answers, anyway you can show us your antique pieces; we'll be glad to tell you something about, read our BLOG to understand more about this job and thanks to this you'll understand why we're so proud about italian tradition. Our wide selection of intaglio, art deco, liberty style (edwardian and victorian) offers to our customers fine antique italian cameos of value at reasonable prices: yes because in Italy you can still find very beautiful cameos at fair prices: learn with us the history of Cameos. Since 1934 Eredi Jovon sale point is located on the Rialto bridge in Venice where you can still meet the owner Gabriella and her sons Marco and Alessio, we'll be glad to show you the venetian jewelry that made our family so famous during this 80 years of story and we'll be happy to explain you the history of our shop and our family opereted business sine 3 generations!
But what are cameos?
Cameos are special jewelry made by engraving a material that can be a stone, a shell, a coral or even a piece of glass (in which case they are called "carvings") making it a small work of art to carry with you. Cameos can be likened to early photographs and perhaps, since the earliest examples portrayed famous people, they can be considered the first “selfie” in history.
What cameos represent
Cameos usually represent a person's face: this meaning has been borrowed from other art forms such as cinema and literature, indicating as cameo the fleeting but significant appearance of a secondary character within a work. Obviously, over time, cameos have represented images of real people, but also scenes inspired by all things in life. I like to tell this anecdote: when Pompeii was rediscovered, much of the engraving art turned to copying what was gradually unearthed during the excavations. So there is no shortage of bucolic scenes or the representation of the iconic cupids of the "House of the Vettii" intent on forging gold, harvesting wheat or simply playing chasing each other.
The cameo in jewelry, despite being connoted with this meaning of apparition, takes on different aspects and different forms. Here the glyptic sculpture will be on the jacket of a middle-aged lady as a brooch and will be seen sparkling as an earring in the hair or as a ring on the finger of a carefree girl who likes to show her love for vintage and the beautiful things of the past. The cameo is for everyone and in jewelry it finds space and always new inspirations so much so that it has even become a buckle for a belt in a recent collection of Eredi Jovon who has made it an art since 1934.
The History of Cameos
Cameos have deep historical roots that go all the way back to Egyptian times (isn't the cartouche so dear to the pharaohs a very similar engraving to that of the early Roman glitches?). Certainly a propitious period for this art was the Graeco-Roman period (we have beautiful evidence of these works at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples- MAN for short).
A great rediscovery occurred in the 500s with the Renaissance so much so that many cameos can be identified in works by Raphael, and Botticelli).
With the advent of Neoclassicism everything connected with ancient Urbe came back powerfully into fashion and with it the artifacts of glyptics that are nothing more than miniature sculptures that can be worn.
Last but not least was the Victorian Era that gave birth to cameos that we can still find today as little gems hidden in the fine workshops of yesteryear.
FAQ on Victorian Cameos
How to identify a Victorian Cameo?
Nowadays the web is flooded with vintage, old and Victorian attributes, but the vintage cameo has definite characteristics. The Victorian cameo usually represents real women not idealized, much more reminiscent of sculptures rather than minute portraits with redundant details. Take a period cameo in your hand: the artist's chiseling will have emphasized the significant features of a face not the unnecessary details that give the blatant idea of an almost manneristic pursuit of a touch for effect. Remember that the Victorian era was the child of neoclassicism and the taste of the elite of the time raised on classical texts was closely connected to the ancients albeit with an eye toward a world that was changing human history forever. It was the period of the Industrial Revolution that unabashedly took realism seriously. In short, if the engraving of a cameo reminds you more of a sculpture than a portrait, perhaps you really are in the presence of an authentic vintage cameo.
Are old cameo brooches worth anything?
the value of an antique cameo brooch depends on many factors including the overall quality of the engraving, the innate difficulty of the work, the rarity of the material used, and the general condition of how it has been maintained over time (it is no coincidence that broken cameos lose value dramatically and become jewelry with great sentimental value because they recall a family's history). Of course, there are cameos that by respecting certain rules can have a considerable value of even several thousand euros. Within our eBook on cameos you will be able to find a formula for giving an approximate value to your jewelry. I remind you that for a professional valuation it is useful to contact (and pay) an expert.
How Can you tell how old a cameo brooch is?
Determining the age of a cameo is a job that requires the careful analysis of several elements. The following come to mind at first glance: the style of the work, the type of mount, the engraving marks (steel or iron burins for example). Also in our eBook you can find a chapter devoted to 3 simple tricks to see if a cameo is authentically Victorian or old if you prefer. The eye of the expert is always important to give a professional answer to complicated questions, and be wary of those who give you easy and “always true” answers.
