Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

outstanding cameo...... think I'll go have a flagon of wine !!

 

I think she's a real beauty!

 

I was looking for something else on the British Museum website and did a curiosity google.

Cameo addicts' rabbit hold, for sure. I found this hardstone one first.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1890-0901-15

 

this cameo is available locally. I am not sure if it any good. It seems too simple and crudely carved? Huge neck, long nose. Appears to be signed on the back? The best photo I could do as not in my possession.

 

She doesn't sing to me at all. The poor girl needs a nose job.

 

This is so much nicer in person than it is in this photo. It's in a 12k bezel. Someone's family member felt it was worth nothing and gave it to a thrift shop. My wife bought last week a beautiful micro mosaic pin that I'd bet came from the same household.

 

the things people toss............

 

Tell them to toss them to me! (if its not a cameo; then Brownwen and Pepperanna will go up for the interception)

 

I understand rich people who have so much they just don't care about anything. But, we live in PA, and most everyone looks like they're just getting by.

My issue is, I never toss anything.

My wife was a textile designer. The dress designer was mega rich. When they left one company to go to another, the designer threw away a 19th century portrait locket and an 18k compact. My wife was the last person to leave and picked them out of the trash. When they got to the new place, she showed them to the woman who said "Keep them. I threw them away." This woman once had a hair appointment and her 10 carat diamond tennis bracelet fell off in the design studio. My wife found it and called the hair salon to tell her she found it. "Just leave it on my desk. I didn't even notice it was gone." Money can buy you anything. It also makes you appreciate things a lot less.

 

Hope you didn't buy this; it has absolutely nothing to recommend it. Not just crudely cut but also in poor condition & no older than the 1950s. I could not tell whether or not the various marks on the back add up to a signature. Even a signature, especially if cutter is unknown, can't redeem this one.

 

What she said.........!!!

 

It's faintly horrible, but if it's going cheaply enough and you have a jean jacket that needs a random pin...this one works.

 

I, too, hope you didn't buy this one. I wouldn't be sorry to see it dismantled for craft projects, at best.

Quite pretty, and in need of a scrub! It's amazing what people will donate, often just so they don't have to bother dealing with the hassle of sorting, researching, pricing, and selling their loved one's "junk".

 

Hi all. I have been reading this thread for quite a while and, inspired by it, started collecting cameos about a year ago. I would love to share my finds if anyone could tell me more about them! Today I wanted to ask about a cameo I just got. I feel fairly confident that it is hardstone but wanted to ask those more knowledgeable than myself. I struggled to get photos showing it well but it is a red colour with a thin layer of white on the top surface. You can see the banding from the side photo (or at least can try to, sorry again for the quality). The top surface is slightly undulated but the back is perfectly flat and shiny.

 

Welcome, Pica. Thanks for coming out into the light & sharing your treasures with us. Can't tell you the glow it gives me to hear that this thread inspired your appreciation of these little art works.

Yes, she is hardstone, so don't hesitate to give her the bath she needs. Just be sure to let the whole piece dry in open air for a good bit before putting it into any kind of closed container. You want to make sure no moisture remains caught in the mount.

Your girl is either Persephone or the nymph Arethusa, both associated with the tale of the abduction (rape) of Proserpina (Persephone) by Death (Hades) as told by Ovid in The Metamorphoses. Ceres (Demeter) searches high and low for her missing daughter, plunging the earth into cold and barrenness. It is Arethusa who is able to tell the grieving mother what has happened.

The action was believed to have occurred in Sicily, which was once part of the wider Greek world. We have her image on the coinage of Syracuse.



It is not really possible to know which figure the engraver of your cameo had in mind, or whether he even distinguished between them. Both wear a strand of pearls, pendant earrings, and grain leaves (but not ripened ears) in the hair. In coinage, when accompanied by dolphins, as above, she is typically seen as the nymph. Without them she is usually seen as Kore, the Maiden, the young Persephone before her abduction.

What's next?

 

Thank you for all the information and kind welcome! I've never read the Metamorphoses so perhaps this is the call I need to do just that . I like her even more with possible identities attached.

I have only had the courage to bathe my unset cameos so far. Is it safe to soak set cameos or is it best to minimise water contact?

My cameos aren't quite as fancy as some of the beautiful ones shared in this thread, I'm generally picking the few which look interesting and are for an affordable price.

This is the first cameo I got. I assume it is a Flora type?

This I got slightly later, I believe it is a slightly rudimentary Isis? I am hopeful she may look slightly better after a bath
I have put these together as they both held the same surprise when I received them and saw the backs .


They both bear the "Silz" signature I have read about on this thread!

 

That is exactly how I began to go about it when I moved on to buying as a collector. I was focused on learning how to 'read' them, to recognize the attributes of mythological figures. There's no going back to "pretty ladies" once you've taken that step.

Yes, Flora, who seems to have been the origin of what became I call "Corsage Lady" in the 1920s/30s, thence to Pretty Ladies. I find yours more interesting than most because of the care the cutter took with her apparel. Very unusual.

Spot on. She's a bit skimpy, but not by much. This one is by Teresa Talani, from the collections of the University of Pennsylvania:

Too funny. [joke] Charles Schmoll must have had a lot of free time while tending to the family shop to be able to produce so much work that we still find it regularly now. [joke] A couple more to add to the Schmoll file.

I have soaked most of the shell cameos I have acquired over the years, some of them with multiple repeats of the soak/scrub cycle, and never yet had to regret it. I'll emphasize again that pieces, even unset ones, should be given ample time to air dry after being patted dry. I do not soak anything with a closed back or any setting that affords too many places for water to get in easily but that would make it hard for the water to drain back out. Toothpaste rubbed in with a fingertip followed by a soft toothbrush, rinsed keeping the piece oriented in a way to keep water from running in is my technique for grubby pieces for which soaking is inadvisable.

 

Oh, and please show us the results of any cleaning. It can be absolutely transformative.

 

I certainly will
I have cleaned my unset cameos and they have definitely benefitted from it.
There are two I am unsure about:

It is quite an androgynous looking figure so I was unsure but I felt on balance that it was Bacchus?

I've tried to find a source for this particular image but failed. I've assumed it is just some sort of fanciful "classical lady".
I picked these all up in lots where, presumably, someone is trying to sell what's left after scrapping the gold mounts. Some make it through the process better than others. This poor bacchante suffered quite badly!