Late Victorian Mourning Cameo Ring
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Mourning cameos have been set in jewellery from the mid 18th Century as popular items.
Different materials have been used, such as shell, but onyx has always been a more popular choice. French memorial items widely used onyx in the 19th Century, as did many areas along the Continent.
This was not necessarily a response to the jet trade, but simply a fashionable material. Jewellery that can be considered for mourning or memorial in the early 20th Century is more commonly made from onyx.
This mid 19th Century piece above shows the wonderful carving of the broken urn and forget-me-not in the same cameo, making it less common than most which generally show one item or another.
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