Edwardian California Garnet Specimen art deco and little dot embellishments

and little dot embellishments

these eyes use a concave mirror surface of guanine crystals to direct and focus the light - something of an innovation in the world of molluscs

with a raised white gold band running down the centre

The cameo itself is expertly carved from bull's mouth shell with breathtaking detail: the Bacchant (aka Maenad) gazes

Edwardian California Garnet Specimen art deco and little dot embellishmentsAn interesting little oddity that took me an age to figure out but I got there. It's a rough, uncut spessartine garnet crystal from the Little Three Mine in Ramona, California. This pendant dates from the very early days of mining in Ramona. The crystal weighs 16. 4 carats and it's mounted in a yellow gold cage likely a souvenir recovered by one of the pioneer miners. Spessartine garnet is an orange coloured gemstone named after the Spessart mountain