Antique Victorian 10k Gold Carved Carnelian Cameo Locket Pendant

Description

Details
Excellent condition.
Fresh looking, soft wear is noticeable only on close inspection.
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Gold setting has a bright patina with minor surface wear, tiny and shallow dent at the back.
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Carved shell is crisp and distinct with no dulling or chipping.
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One original frame holds your photo in place. (with one glass panel).
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Bale is secure and original.
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Shuts firmly with a satisfying “snap”.
Era
Victorian
Length
1 1/8” (excluding bale)
Width
7/8"
Mark
No mark
Weight
6 grams
Material
Tests for 10k solid gold, natural carnelian
Unique Features
Made by hand or in small groups of similar styles, vintage jewelry is individualistic with its own special story.
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Carved by hand in natural shell with crisp relief, the detailed scroll design is unique (rather than portrait).
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Tiny diamond shape at front is a blank cartouche waiting for new owner’s initials to be added.
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Modest in silhouette, this locket has a puffy shape with a solid and dense feel in your hand.
Collector Note
On Handmade or Hand-Carved Jewelry.
Handmade or hand-carved jewelry is valued because it is, by default, one of a kind. Unlike machine-made pieces, a handmade piece can never be replicated in the exact same way, and so they will always reveal the at-the-moment intent of the individual maker. Often, the pieces have a distinctively visceral feel, as though you can sense the painstaking labor that went into every aspect.
On Victorian
.
A young Queen Victoria assumed her role in 1837 and her taste in jewelry quickly became culturally influential, within England and beyond. Her relationship to jewelry was enmeshed with her husband, Prince Albert, who gifted the Queen for their engagement, a snake ring, embedded with an emerald (her birthstone) in its head. Continuing from the Georgian era and intensified by Queen Victoria
’
s
taste, sentimental and figural jewelry was a major trend throughout the Victorian era. When certain ideas and words were deemed too forward or improper to be spoken, jewelry and symbolic meaning was used to communicate what was left unsaid.
_gsrx_vers_1292 (GS 8.3.6 (1292))