Antique Georgian Carved Coral Cameo Earrings

These unbelievable Georgian era beauties are one of my proudest achievements in the "restoration" category. Featuring a pair of wonderfully detailed women straight out of ancient Greece or Rome, facing toward each other with thoughtful gazes and adorned with flower crowns, these likely date to around 1810. Unfortunately, these finely carved, bezel set cameos came to me in rather poor shape. Dry, chalky, and fitted with a modern pair of 9k gold screw backs (likely added sometime during the first half of the 20th century), I knew that I had to bring them back to their former glory. After a painstaking restoration process, which involved drawing out 18k gold wire by hand to match the bezels, and forming back-to-front hinged hooks to replicate what would have originally been attached, these earrings truly challenged my understanding of physics and geometry! After hours of research into how the hooks on similar, Georgian era cameo earrings were shaped, and examining my own Georgian era earrings for cues on how to proceed, these pensive beauties were brought back to life in the way they were intended to be worn. 

These earrings have been restored to what I would consider excellent condition. Sturdy, secure, and absolutely ready to wear. There is some softening of the details on the cameos, which is to be expected for their age (and figural cameos of this era were not as sharply carved as later Victorian examples would be, favoring a sort of "washy" appearance). The hooks are made of 18k gold, while the bezels test as at least 18k and may be slightly higher. Earrings measure 7/8" long and 5/8" wide.