Price guide to antique portrait cameo rings. Portrait cameos are those which portray an actual person, although the term is often used to describe cameos which portray a standard head. Genuine portrait cameos depicting real people would most probably have been hand-carved.
Of Jacobite Interest: An 18th century enamel ring set with a cameo portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, circa 1750 Set with a rock crystal covering a yellow metal disc depicting Prince Charles Edward Stuart in profile, all to a pinched-collet closed-back setting, the reverse reeded and set with a glazed locket compartment, between pierced and enamelled shoulders, one of thistle design, the other of white rose design, the hoop formed as three scrolls with a dedication reading ‘C::P::R: 1745/ DUM SPIRAT/ SPERO’
Sold for £8,125 inc. premium at Bonhams in 2017
A ROMAN ONYX CAMEO PORTRAIT OF CALIGULA Circa 37-41 A.D. The idealized portrait sensitively sculpted, the emperor in profile to the left, with a broad forehead capped with typical Julio-Claudian short curly locks but with a noticeable and characteristic hollow at the temple, the face with a deep-set eye, slender nose, characteristic protruding upper lip, and narrow chin; mounted in a modern gold finger ring 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm) long
Sold for USD 52,875 at Christies in 2001
Lorenz Natter (1705-1763) German, circa 1740 RING WITH AN INTAGLIO WITH A PROFILE RELIEF OF PRINCESS MARY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND LANDGRAVINE OF HESSE-KASSEL (1723-1722) chalcedony, set in gold bezel: 20mm., ¾in. ring size: F
Mary was the seventh child and fourth daughter of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach. After her mother’s death in 1737, Mary was brought up by her elder sister, Princess Caroline. In 1740, she was described as ‘a lover of reading and far more solicitous to improve the mind than to adorn the body’. Horace Walpole, who had played with her when they were both children, said she had ‘the softest, mildest temper in the world’. When she was 17, a marriage was arranged for her with Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel (1720–85) and they had four children. Her married life was tumultuous, however, and in 1746, she returned to Britain. Her later years were spent in Hanau with her children, supported by her father-in-law, Wilhelm VIII, who provided a residence for her. She died there on 14 January 1772
Sold for 3,750 GBP at Sothebys in 2015
