Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

If the brooch is shown right side up in the photo, the pin assembly is going in the opposite direction to the way a right handed person would expect. When the clasp is in the unlocked position, is the opening for the pin stem on top?

 

I'll dig it out tomorrow and check, it's already packed in my car for tomorrow's flea.

 

The cameo is definitely older than the mount if we can take 77 as the year the brooch was made. The combination of this cameo in this mount may be OOAK.

 

The seller is just an idiot. Very few would pay $1500 for it. The few that would are idiots. It's nice. Just not $1500 nice IMO.

A little while ago I bought a Ademco (something like that) cameo in a bracelet. I thankfully paid next to nothing, and when I found out it was a home shopping network piece of shit, I was able to sell it quickly on ebay for $30. So, I managed to make almost $15 off it. As I'm looking for an anniversary cameo, the bracelet came up selling for $300. I sent the seller a message telling him it's worthless, and he sent me links to people selling it for hundreds. I clicked "sold" and they're selling for even less than I sold it for. I took a screenshot and sent it to him. He's now asking $100. It won't sell. It's sellers like this that either don't know, or are just waiting for that one sucker. Because there's one born every minute.

41 years on the 26th.

I found the piece she's getting, and it's in rough shape. But, it's an interesting carving

 

She looks like the real deal. It's a pity someone dropped her.

 

She is interesting; I have not seen her before. Possibly a portrait of an actual person. The closed eyes are a bit disconcerting: mainly seen on subjects who are dead. The very smooth lines suggest a molded piece. However, if she were, I would have seen her before now, unless quite rare, as in made from a mold that was made specifically for this one instance.

Think on Cameo Times I called the subject of "lava' a vexed one. The more I look, the trickier it becomes: completely hand carved pieces; molded pieces with extensive hand finishing; molded pieces with some hand finishing; completely molded pieces given some touches, such as scratches on the back, that suggest hand carving; unapologetic molded ones.

 

Brooches certainly have a fraught relationship with gravity, whether fumbled while being pinned on or falling off due to some treacherous clasp, so may be what happened here. If it was made specifically as a memento of deceased beloved, it may have experienced regular wear, with attendant hazards.

In this one photo, I see no damage to the setting, so another possibility is that it dried out. I have a tiny lava Saturn that was already cracked when I bought him. Because of the mottled coloring, I gambled that the material was not dyed & stuck him in plain water to soak. He rattled in the frame slightly when he arrived; hydration tightened him up.



However, the probability that Snowman's cameo is dyed is very high, so any exposure to water is contraindicated. Fortunately, she looks very clean.

 

Ebay is full of truly awful cameos. I didn't realize just how bad they are until I started looking a few days ago.

Many are advertised as hand carved that obviously aren't. Many advertised as lava aren't. There are many that I think are outstanding and they start at about $2000. These are set in 10k to 14k gold. The settings mean nothing to her. If they were $500 without a bezel or a silver one, I would jump on them. The ones for $500 are the ones we find in antique stores for $300, and the flea market for $150. The thing that truly annoyed me was how few truly unique options there are. This one filled that notch in spades. I've never seen a face like this, especially the closed eyes. It's a crying shame that it was broken. But, being broken allowed me to get the seller to dramatically lower the price. I wouldn't have paid what she was asking. But, I think I paid a fair price (maybe a little more than I should have) for the uniqueness.

I also think the closed eyes has something to do with her not being alive.

This is the back. Does this give a hint to it being molded or carved?

 

No, but the repairs tell me someone valued it highly, also arguing for its being an actual portrait.

 

Just because we're on the topic, I'm perusing the Bay's listings for lava cameos & came across another head shaker. I don't even want to put up the photo, but what in the world is item # 198480711532 all about? I don't know what that is in the ring's clutches.

 

That's a beauty. It's so unusual it doesn't lose anything from the crack.

I didn't think about that. If it wasn't loved, they'd probably have thrown it away.

I had to check out that ring. On first glance I thought it was a few hundred years old. Then I saw the markings and had to ask AI. It says mid 20th century. If that was a true lava cameo, not set in the ring, I'd still pass it by. I don't mind rough looking art, but it has to have a spark.

My brother is a ring fanatic. He just had this ring made. He first bought the vivid blue diamond (if that was a natural blue diamond, it would start at over a million dollars). Then designed the ring, and the jeweler (in China) made it for him. He's an excellent photographer, and he had AI use his ring's photo, and it came up with this -

 

This was a mispost.

 

Does he just accumulate them?

 

I hope that AI photo , doesn't follow that ring around when it moves on to a new owner...