Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 12481450, member: 5833"]Interesting assortment of findings on the back.  The pin/hinge style is older, but everything else is more modern.  Of course a cameo can be mounted any time after its making, the two elements are not necessarily contemporaries.  In this case, if the mount is a good indicator of the age of the entire piece, I'd have to peg it as more recent than I originally thought: mid-50s - mid-60s. I can't detect any marks on the back of the cameo, much less try to decipher them; I can't even quite make out what is stamped on the frame. Has the cameo been marked using acid etching? Everything I can see in the photos seems consistent with shell.  What about it seems different to you?  Due to different species & sizes of shell being used, segments used for carving can differ in color, thickness & degree of curvature.  This piece is so thick & flat, & signed by Michelini, who worked in shell for most of his career but had mastered hardstone in his later years, that I thought for quite a while that it is agate.  It is shell: [ATTACH=full]554910[/ATTACH] The Soviet hallmark also encouraged me to think it a higher value piece.[/QUOTE]