Victorian Cameo Earrings

[JDJames89]

Hello, everyone. Not sure if anyone might be able to help me much with these as there isn't a whole lot to go on, but I am curious for any input about a pair of cameo earrings that have been passed down in my family. I'm fairly certain that they were either my great great grandmother's or her mother's and I thought maybe someone could help me narrow down a time frame that these might have come from. I've done some light research on cameos and have found that they were popular throughout the Victorian and into the Edwardian era. Unfortunately, that covers several generations and doesn't help me much.

The earrings are very small. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions as I took these photos a few years ago but I could dig them out again if necessary. Also, I don't believe there was any sign of stamp or identifying mark or I would have been sure to get a photo that showed it clearly but, again, I could have another look if necessary.

[t mo]

hi
just found your post and just as an observation from a mere male  , looking at the side view pic if they were either victorian or edwardian wouldn,t they have hooks so they hung on the ear rather than more modern butterfly type fixings or is that type older than i thought ?! or have they been converted also if the mount is gold wouldn,t there be a hallmark on them somewhere probably the back i would have thought , as i say just observations of a mere male but with a lady who has more kit [ jewellery ] than is good for her  .
regards
trevor

[PrueM]

This website is fairly confident that the screw-post mechanism is solidly 1890s:
http://www.trocadero.com/stores/glitzqueen/items/687914/item687914.html

[aghadowey]

Sorry but I have to disagree. The photos in the link Prue posted are an earlier style screw back than the cameo ones here.
I inherited a large collection of earrings from my grandmother and her 2 sisters and have both types of backs on some of the earrings but would be surprised at 1890s date (although that type of back could have been made for many years).

[PrueM]

Fair enough Aghadowey - what date would you say yours are?  A bit later?

[aghadowey]

Grandmother and sisters born 1892-1901 and they didn't get their ears pierced as small children. From memory (I'm not home at the moment) I would say could be c1910 and later.

[JDJames89]

Thanks for the input. The women I believe they belonged to were either Nettie Hauswirth (1863-1897) or one of her daughters Rita and Alice Hauswirth (1886-1967 and 1896-1973). If they date from the 20th century, I would of course say they have to be one of the daughters but if they're from the 1890s I would be more likely to lean towards Nettie as both of the girls would have still been relatively young for earrings, wouldn't they? Very interesting.