Cameo bracelet questions. Mostly related to cleaning but others too.

[graciec620]

This piece looks to be an older cameo that was set in a vintage bracelet. The bracelet is gold filled and marked Hayward. It feels off from the cameo to me so I wonder why I purchased it to begin with but I did.  Am I correct about this? Is it totally devalued because someone more than likely tampered with the setting to get it placed in the bracelet? 

Anyway the cameo seems fragile and I’m thinking she’s made from shell. I did clean the dirt off her because it was awful but the dirt/gunk on the metal is a whole different story. It’s going to take some elbow grease to get that off,  but that kind of cleaning could definitely damage the cameo. She’s a little loose on the setting as it is. I have no idea what the metal is on the cameo. There is no stamp. I’m in a quandary. Also the cameo looks signed but I can’t make out the signature. 

Any thoughts? Should I leave her alone and not clean? Should I try and clean the metal with simichrome hoping I don’t touch the cameo?  I tried using a bit of original Dawn and water with a cotton swab but that might take until 2025 to get her clean if I didn’t break her along the way. 

 

 

 

 

 

[dream*peddler]

Wellllll... I don't think it's carved shell.  The colors seem too contrasted and the background looks too dark for shell.  A bigger clue is that the back looks thick and flat.  Shell cameos usually are slightly domed and of thinner material.  That's just my guess from where I sit, but it looks nice in that setting!

[1940fc]

I wasn`t thinking shell..I always thought them to look kinda translucent when held up to light.  The thick backing doesn`t look like that would be so?  Almost looks like a resin to me..but..I don`t have it in hand.

As to cleaning...I always go by.. 'when in doubt...don`t'       Leave all serious cleaning up to buyer.

It`s pretty tho!  

[idealgems1]

The A and Z Hayward line was a collection of better costume jewelry sold in jewelry stores.  It was predominantly gold filled.  Their heyday was the 1940s through the 1980s, but they were around after that too.  Our former store carried the line.

Typically, a Hayward piece would have a commercial, not finely carved, shell cameo in a piece like yours.

Your pictures are not great, but the back really doesn't look like a shell cameo (as has been suggested).  But it could be just a poor one; can't tell from the photos.  Shell cameos are often signed by their carvers and there might be some kind of initials or signature on it.  The original cameo could have been lost and replaced with a fake one along the way.  

You should be able to tell with some examination under magnification what it is.  Look for mold lines anywhere on the piece, gas bubbles in the resin, and any evidence that the piece has been molded rather than carved (like a surface that is shrunk in cooling or with an "orange peel" effect).  Commercial shell cameos typically have rather crude carving details in the hair and along the nose; look for places where the carver takes shortcuts and leaves edges (like the nose) angular from carving straight lines rather than the harder to do fine curves.  Keep in mind that molded pieces are sometimes touched up with a little carving.

A final test as a last resort you can do is not generally recommended by gemologists like me because it is destructive.  But you could do a hot point test at an inconspicuous place in the back (which appears messed up anyways).  Heat a needle up very hot with a flame and quickly touch it to a place on the back of the piece.  A fake cameo will smell like burning plastic and a shell cameo will smell like burnt hair.

As for cleaning...nothing more than warm soapy water!

[graciec620]

Thank you both. I’m not a cameo fan. Don’t even know why I picked this up. Give me sparkly things, Native American or any folk art and I’m happy. Cameos? Nope.

I’ve learned my lesson with this one though. Stir clear of the things you don’t love. I may do the hot needle test but, to be honest, I don’t know if I could distinguish the difference between burning hair and burnt plastic as both sound equally abhorrent and after having COVID, my nose broke. I took some macro photos of the cameo as I do have a good lens. I’ll study them carefully and determine whether she’s worth my time. 

Thank you again!