If you search online for vintage cameos, you quickly realize there are a lot out there and they typically aren't expensive. Despite their modest value, cameos are seriously old school since some of the earliest examples date back to ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece and Rome in the centuries before Jesus' birth. Cameos are something you might find in your great granny's jewelry box, along with a hatpin. And maybe a piece of hair jewelry that belonged to your great granny's mother. Hair jewelry is kinda gross, in my opinion, but that's a whole other post!
Last week when my sister and I were sorting mother's belongings to decide what we'd keep or donate, I realized I couldn't find granny's big cameo pendant that mother inherited. After a bit of an initial panic, I swam through the pea soup of my fuzzy menopausal brain to the realization that I already stored the cameo in our safe. Then I had to be sure I was remembering the correct safe place... because seriously, I guess I need to start a master of list of safe places where I store things, because I put them there and then forget where the safe place is located.
Sure enough, I located the large cameo pendant in the safe. I had always wanted this cameo because it reminds me of granny. I wore it on my wedding day (see the fuzzy pic below) and I'm hoping my girls will choose to incorporate it into their own wedding celebrations one day, too.
The other reason I wanted this cameo is because of the history behind it. My grandparents got married right before the start of World War II. Pawpaw got drafted in 1942, serving in North Africa and then Italy. Granny stayed home and moved in with her mother. For a while, she worked at an airplane factory in Fort Worth. The history nerd in me loves that I'm descended from a WWII vet and Rosie the Riveter. Towards the end of the war, Pawpaw was working his way up the boot of Italy and traveled through the area around Naples. While there, he traded a chocolate bar and some cigarettes in his rations for a small box of hand carved cameos by a local artisan. That's how these Italian cameos got to southeast Texas.
The first cameo wasn't set until over four decades later when granny had the largest one made into the pendant I wore at my wedding. Granny came from very humble beginnings that didn't really improve as she aged, and so never had the money to do anything with the cameos most of her life. I'm so happy I have the framed photo of my granny, below, wearing the cameo pendant. I just wish I had a picture of my mother wearing it, too. The only cameo that left granny's possession was the one she gave to her beloved sister, Jodie Ruth. Jodie had that cameo incorporated into a shorter strand of pearls. When she passed, her daughter who inherited it passed it along to my mother, and now it's mine. It was also added to the safe last week when I located it in mother's jewelry box.
My mother had the two smallest cameos made into rings for my sister and I when we were in high school. I've still got mine, and wish I could make it fit on my wrinkly, middle-aged finger. Honestly, I seldom wore the ring when I was younger because the stone used to make cameos is porous. I was always afraid I wouldn't be careful enough and it might get damaged. I was looking at the ring last week, thinking maybe I'll have it reset into a necklace. Or have a new ring made. There's no point in having lovely or special things that remind you of precious people if you're just going to keep them in a box and never enjoy wearing them.
About ten years ago, mother mentioned to me that there were three mid-sized cameos remaining. I decided to have each of those set in gold, one for each of granny and pawpaw's great granddaughters. They've been tucked away in their boxes until the girls are older and I can be sure that when I give it to them the cameos will be appreciated as treasured keepsakes and well taken care of to eventually pass along to their children with this sweet story of our family.
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