Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

sad , but likely more true than you'd expect !

Still , there's hope that some folks who land on your collected works, will be thrilled to find a trove of highly collectable items..... and wonder how they ended up... where they did ???

I mean...... we run into that here.... often !!

 

Because many Victorian cameos are in mounts with a memento compartment on the back, & because those compartments sometimes contain hair, thought it was appropriate to share this here:

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/202...on-leilas-hair-museum-morbid-anatomy-brooklyn

https://www.morbidanatomy.org/collection

 

Continuing education for the eye.

Auctioneer provides one photo & describes it thusly:

"Antique French cameo pendant in ebony wood. Featuring an exquisitely carved white agate depicting a Greek-style lady in profile. Mounted in 18k yellow gold and hallmarked."



I can't speak to the nature of the wood, but it is clearly a cameo cut in one material cleverly mounted - turning the rivets into jewellery - to a background of another.

So, does it even seem likely to you that an agate cameo would be tacked to a piece of wood? The fact that this was even done, the thinness plus the slight brown border showing around the figure in many places, tell me this was a shell cameo, probably salvaged from a broken background.

 

Another beware auctioneers bearing misinformation.

"Mourning Carved Bog Oak Silver Mounted Brooch."



Only if bog oak is moldable & comes in colors.



The one being auctioned appears to be Vulcanite or similar.

 

it sure goes a long way , being an expert in the field !!!

 

This evening spotted a cameo that is being described as resin, even though set in 14K, with a commensurate opening bid, that looks like lava to me. I have seen resin copies of these very high relief pieces, so not entirely impossible, but the fact that seller boasts their GIA credential increases my confidence. What the GIA did not teach them - & the GIA does not concern itself with lava - they are just as ignorant about as anyone else with no experience.

 

(heh) I wonder how they do with jet or coral.

 

They might do OK with coral, if they took that module. I know GIA has a course on pearls. When I go to the antique/vintage jewellery show, many sellers are proudly displaying their gaudiest famous maker pieces in pride of place. For me they fall into a mental category "big rocks" & I don't even slow down for them. Cruising by I have noticed that one of the things that get showcased is large gold pieces with huge coral cabochons, so it does have gem status.

GIA grads seem to do OK with precious metals, diamonds, the corundums (ruby. sapphire) & the beryls (emerald, aquamarine). They get shakier with semiprecious stones & more often than not are at a complete loss with cameos made of anything other than stone.

This particular seller mainly flogs coins, some sports cards & some Beanie Babies. I can't recall another piece of jewellery among their current wares.

 

I.E. my favorite kind of seller.

I think the GIA types can have problems with semi-precious stones if they don't have their electronic equipment handy. That's a guess from what I've seen on Youtube. I know the eBay ones do.

 

When I Lensed this photo of the piece, Goog's AI cited sources correctly IDing it as Vulcanite. Ut takes so little these days to check on this sort of thing, with the caveat that it's advisable to double check the bot agent.

This description hits another of my pet peeves: saying it is 'mourning' related just because it is black.

 

I saw this beautiful cameo on a Facebook thread, they identified it as Pomona. So unique!

 

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!

 

She is lovely. The cutter did rounded surfaces beautifully.

Pomona was a nymph who loved & tended orchards. She was wooed by Vertumnus, who does not seem to have much of a mythological existence apart from this story, which is told by Ovid. Vertumnus approaches the object of his desire in various guises that would give a man an excuse for being near her crops, such as a harvest worker, finally getting closer to her by appearing as an old woman. The woman praises Vertumnus & tells Pomona a tale of the marmoreal fate of a queen who is contemptuously dismissive of an ardent suitor. The story does not actually move the nymph, but when he drops the disguise & reveals himself in the altogether, well...

I think it is unlikely that the maker of this cameo even knew of Pomona, but calling her that makes for a convenient way to refer to her. If she were crowned with flowers we would refer to her as Flora; give her grain and she becomes Ceres/Demeter; grapes, a bacchante.

Beyond being fruit, her botanical adornment is ambiguous. Pears? Those look like the leaves of a pear tree at the top. But all those pears seem like a heavy load. Figs? The leaf at her shoulder is more consistent with that. Cameists had to be business men as well as artisans. It wouldn't take long to figure out that pretty sells. And this piece is certainly very pretty.

 

This one hits most of the bases:

 

OOh pretty. BTW, even my sister bought one the other day. I haven't seen it but if she likes it whatever.