Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

The necklace face and hair make this interesting. The crumbling gives it age. She actually likes old old old.

Thank you. She likes things that are different.She has a few lava cameos that I think are carved. Now I'm not sure. This one is just different enough to be appreciated.

I'm just trying to find a decent one for our anniversary. I thought I could get the carver to do one. But, he's been on vacation for a month, and he's working on her B'day present which is going to take a bit of time.

I'm seeing nice ones that are extremely expensive IMO, and ones like this that are interesting, very affordable, and questionable about how it's made.

Looking through ebay, I'm seeing poorly carved ones, that apparently aren't carved at all. I'm seeing a dozen, and they're exactly the same thing. Which makes me wonder if they're even old.

 

identical = molded molded = not old

Just because something is in poor condition does not mean that it's old. The opposite can also be true. For really old old, you would have to go back to imperial Rome or earlier. Since cameos were not made then nearly as often as intaglios, your lady might have to expand the borders of her collection, if she wants to go that far back.

Genuine Renaissance cameos are not plentiful, fetch very high prices, &, weirdly, are frequently not that good. But the settings define Bling! It seems the Medieval period did not really produce engraved gems. They did repurpose classical ones, sometimes recutting them to accommodate a Christian interpretation, sometimes setting them so the engraved side was hidden.

Maybe start taking a look at fob seals & see if you can find something particularly suited to her or to the message you would like to send her.

 

I still have 3 weeks, and I'll come upon something. Since it's getting later than I like, I don't want to buy something that ends up being crap. I'm two for two in the crap department. Looking at them with an untrained eye, they have unique qualities that are uniquely crap.

 

Reminds me of a lecture my friend attended in college 50 years ago now, she was an art history major. The lecturer talked about how something done in a primitive manor may not be old. It's a lesson I always have remembered.

 

I have at times asked someone I thought would know more than I whether something was old, or just crude.

 

I'm dithering over whether or not to say something to this seller. I don't understand how things like this happen.

Seller wants US $1,500.00 for this brooch:



If you were not knowledgeable about cameos, this would probably convince you too that this is a very valuable one:



One of seller's assertions is: "This is a heart stone [it only just occurred to me they mean hard stone] cameo could be an agate or Carnelian . Cameos like this were usually carved in Idar Oberstein Germany,"

This is almost endearing: "The brand is Cameo, known for producing high-quality and unique jewelry pieces."

The bit I don't get is how a painted glass cameo that is probably among the top 5 most reproduced ends up in a gold mount.

 

maybe Snowman had it made for his beloved ...?

 

it is Carmen....right...

 

See, I knew it..! .....

 

Depending on weight it might scrap for a decent amount, but not $1500.

 

today...it might not be that far off.....

 

Just last night, I was watching a video about Henry VIII's 5th wife (beheaded) Catherine Howard. It showed this Portrait of a Young Woman, circa 1540-45, by "the workshop of Hans Holbien the Younger", sometimes suggested to be the ill-fated young queen. Of course, I noticed the cameo!



https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436667

 

Got her this past week at a house call, I took it because it has a nice sterling mount. I can't understand why the one you showed is set in 14K gold, why waste gold on a glass cameo?

 

The cameo itself could be Roman, in a Renaissance setting. It's intriguing. The painting does not really capture - to my eye - that the figures are in relief, so perhaps a painted miniature, although not a contemporary portrait? It sort of looks like a bit of fresco from the wall of a Roman villa. I've never heard of this as a jewellery material before, but if fragments of Roman glass can be used...? Was it mentioned as a cameo in the narration?

 

It does. Feel I've seen something similar before, but won't be able to find a photo for comparison. What are the hinge & clasp like? I get a deco vibe. Could date back to then.

This is a photo I lifted in 2016:



This is one of mine, pretending to be conch shell:



And this one is just for @komokwa



In my experience the paint on these is water soluble, so take care if you decide to do any cleaning. A damp, not dripping wet, cotton swab carefully applied to those areas around the edges that look a touch grimy is probably safe.

I can't either. It does not appear to have been retrofitted; the cameo fits perfectly in the bezel. I've seen truly crummy shell cameos set in 14K too. It passeth understanding. The cameos I call 'Danbiere' appear all the time in very nice sterling mounts, but gold... [shakes head]

 

Speaking of these, I'll let the listing speak for itself:

Black Lara Cameo "Bachante" 10K Gold w/garnet brooch

US $2,000.00or Best Offer

Shipping:
US $5.28Signed shipping to authenticator, then to you.



The description pretty much repeats the title, with some verbiage about what a great addition it will be to your life. They do not show the back or explain how metal content & gemstone identification were determined. The lucky authenticator can sort that out, if it ever gets to the GIA. Not sure the authenticators know a "lara" (better than "larva") cameo when they see one.

As I've said before when an artificial cameo has appeared with a preposterous price, anyone who buys cameos with such price tags probably knows exactly what they're looking at. If they don't...well, a learning experience then.

Poking around I see I have spotlighted this lady before, & noticed then what slipped by me this time: that she is so, so similar, yet not identical to the others.

Gatierre, Danbiere & Other Mysteries

 

Unfortunately, no.

 

Quick and dirty photo of the back. On the bottom right is a signature "OOAK 77", I assume that's 1977 which I think makes sense with the hinge and clasp. Not a great find but a solid item for me to sell at the flea market. We take what we can get

 

OOAK , my foot !!!