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A string of pearls. Diamond studs. Gold hoop earrings. Cameos. Some pieces of jewelry have been must-haves for generations. Our hand-carved cameo bracelet is made in Torre del Greco, Italy, a fishing town at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius near Pompeii.
Cameos have been around for more than 6,000 years, but the style that we’re most familiar with—a beautiful young woman in profile, milky white against a coral background—owes its popularity to the late 18th–early 19th-century Grand Tour. This itinerary of the highlights of Western civilization was a must for upper crust Europeans, and they brought back souvenirs to make sure their peers knew they’d made all of the proper stops. These included micromosaics of Pliny’s doves, etchings by Piranesi, bronze models of Roman ruins, and cameos from the fishing villages around the ruins of Pompeii.
