Is this beyond hope?

I would not consider doing this, the WD40 is very light oil but very effective. A q-tip would be much more precise and it won't take much oil. Either it will clean off, or it won't, but I think the hinge could be replaced, so that's where I would start - by taking it apart.

For your speculation and possible efforts, I'd offer them far less, whatever you think the actual value of the cameo itself would be. I agree, it's a wonderful cameo!

To my eyes, it looks like the hinge pin is the thing that rusted and ran down onto the edges of the metal, but there is some erosion on the outer edges too. Could it be possible that the edge metal is silver plated?

What is the front part (with the chipped corner) made of, please?

 

In the original listing, can you get a closer snippet of this area?
This might be pitting if it is silver plate.

Or here - this might just be rust coming through or could be silver wearing off.

 

She's a bacchante/maenad, wreathed in grapevine. But if you see a sea hag, I see one less potential competitor.

 

Mother of pearl. The back is an uncarved piece with no noticeable damage. Both sides look to me as though the MOP is in the form of plaques that have been affixed to something else, presumably the same metal under discussion as a restoration challenge.

 

This is the opposite side; seller did not take an equivalent photo of the side you're asking about:



Wonder if I should ask if they did some cleaning between the times these 2 pix were taken?

This is the edge you asked about, cropped from the same photo;



The condition of the metal everywhere is of concern, not just the areas with iron rust. It's possible that some part of what we're seeing around the edges is just grunge from handling, especially on the edge where you would naturally put your thumb when opening the case, but I don't think it accounts for it all.

 

BTW, in its defense, the great grandmother who was the original owner died in 1877, so case could be 150 years old. Too bad someone somewhere along the line stored it in adverse conditions.

 

Seem to be coming to some degree of consensus: the cause of the red rust is the hinge pin & it needs to go. But maybe not so easy to get it out of there? I'd have to leave it to a professional - or send it to antidiem, who is not the only one to advise against trying to soak it. Someone I talked to here said the same.

Is wd40 oil only? Or does it have a solvent added to it? If very light oil is what's needed, I do have sewing machine oil on hand. Would that be just as good? Or does wd40 have its own magic properties?

I'm going to assume case edges are silver plate & see some promise that areas that are not next to the hinge could be improved cosmetically without extraordinary effort.

Clearly some negotiation with seller would be in order. This item does not appear among seller's completed listings & current listing has 3 weeks to run. If anyone else thought it was worth the asking price, think it would have been snapped up already, but it may have to go unsold a while longer for seller to reconsider price. Will hold off for now.

Thanks to all who have contributed their observations & recommendations so far. Keep 'em coming if you have others.

 

I think it's lovely but then I LOVE Mother of Pearl so I'm a bit biased, such a shame about the broken corner though.
I saw on one of those restoration programmes where they cleaned up steel and chromed surfaces with just water and tin/cooking foil, it was amazing, hard to say if it would work on that but if I had it I would try it on a small area.
The cameo is just lovely and the lining is in good condition.
The price would put me off a bit but if you really love it then it might be worth trying to get the price down.

 

The insides are warped, it appears. And to me some of the metal appears to have lost its silver finish and some is rusted, as discussed. From a previous entry in this thread quoting the seller, it sounds as if they are just speculating that the cameo setting might be sterling silver.

I love the cameo itself. And in general the damage doesn't bother me, when considering it as an object. But you talked about using this a bit as a card holder. All I can say is that if it were me the internal warping and the metal would keep me from wanting to use it. But, perhaps perversely, I wouldn't mind owning it as an object. Not for that amount of money, probably. The cameo is beautiful IMO and that is most of the value outside of any historical interest.

 

Wasn't sure right off what you meant by warped insides, but in scrolling around, passed the pic that shows the inside partially opened to show the edges of the calendar insert & see a bit of a ripple. If that's what you mean, I can live with it. If it's not, please direct my eye to the right place.

It's really hard to know whether some of the blackened places are silver loss & base metal showing through or accumulated grunge & tarnish. I could live with some of that, but the condition of the hinge & adjacent areas...

Looking closely once again, think seller guessing the metal around the cameo is sterling because if you squint your eyes just right, you can make the top word look like STERLING. What I suspect it actually says is BREVETÉ, & below might be S.G.D.G.



Gathering questions for seller, who must think case is attracting much more attention than it really is, I go back to look at it so often.

 

Doesn't look it, does it? Thoughts?

 

Breveté Sans Garantie Du Gouvernement is the most simple form of a registered patent. without testing on function by the state, so it's actually rather a simple "registered".
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans_garantie_du_gouvernement

 

Such a gorgeous cameo - I suggest you think about how much THAT is worth and make them an offer. It's OK to start LOW!! I am not convinced the surround is actually sterling.

 

I'm not anymore either. I had at one time thought one of the words was 'sterling', but my eyes don't see it now.

When I asked for 'thoughts', I had in mind other thoughts on what it might say. The upper word might be brevete, which is so often followed by SGDG, but lower word really doesn't look like that. It's a favorite of mine, started by Napoleon, comes down to design officially registered with the government, but that doesn't mean it works the way it's supposed to.

Have had too many seller friends complain about would-be buyers who make insultingly low offers. Would you ever offer less than half asking? I'd be willing to go to about 75%, largely on the basis of what the cameo might fetch on its own.

Think the overture to make is to ask if they can read what is stamped on it. Stay tuned.

 

Overture made & reply received: they hadn't noticed it until I pointed it out & say it is so small they can't read, other than they think first letter is P.

 

Definitely not on the bottom & don't think so on the top either. Both places just look like a section of scored line, which stand out among all the scrolly bits.

Watch them put the price up because, it's marked, even though they don't know what it says. Starting to think it is a registration number. Took another shot at it, but little better:

 

Cyrillic?