Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Now & again I stumble into the answer for one of my Cameos to Study, usually while trying to find out about something else.

 

It was for me too. Yoohoo! Lover boy! Now where did that man go?

 

Menelaus is mine. Which is appropriate, as my last trip before COVID was to Turkey - the home of the city Troy. The surround is 14K Gold and the hinge and clasp are solid like a rock. It is very sturdy and unmarred. Why I decided to get it was the fact that it can be a pendant, as well as a brooch. It is signed. Something I didn't notice before I bought it. It is 1 1/4 inches long and an inch wide. It has a tube hinge and a C catch. Please tell me something about it.

 

Brava! So I was right about it, she says modestly. I can't tell you much more than you have already told us except one thing. There is disagreement over who this is. I favor the Menelaus identification, but there's a strong contingent for Ajax. If you Google 'bust of Menelaus' & then 'bust of Ajax', you'll see the same bust. The bust inspired gem engravers who copied it. Think it's in the Vatican collections, but don't quote me. I'm afraid I can't help with the cipher, which does indeed appear to be a signature, although dealers sometimes put inventory or price codes on them. Made by a high end jeweler late in the 19th century.

Ya done good.

 

Wow. Late 1800's. You did it all. I just bought it. I so appreciate your guidance. I told them about you, and her face fell when this which was lower priced than many of the other was the prize. I will treasure it and think warmly of you when I wear.

 

I noticed it was lower priced than others, probably because it is small & not 'pretty'. There is probably more gold in that mount than in most of the others that are larger but have a thin frame around them. When I see jeweller appraisals of cameo pieces I don't know whether to laugh or cry. They really only know about the settings.

It will be eye catching if you're ever allowed to go out in public again.

 

They didn’t know anything you’re right. They just bought a collection from someone who didn’t go out anymore. Maybe a good customer. I think only two of them were from other sources I am very pleased and realize that I will need a chain. I’ll go back later and see what they are willing to part with. They planned to sell more in the initial sale and now are counting on the holiday season to reduce their inventory they hope to sell the store by January. I want to thank you again for encouraging me to buy this. I’m very happy. I just weighed it - 10 grams. I don't know how heavy the cameo is though.

 

It’s beautiful Kiko and the one I would have chosen too so Bronwens teachings are having some effect!. A great talking point too, much nicer than the pointy nosed ladies

 

This cameo, which I really like, is on eBay but £350. It is small, has no setting and the seller “believes” it’s hardstone. Is it worth a punt? Have you seen a glass one with this image?

BTW the hair, short and brushed forward, and the sideburns look very Regency to me.

 

Isn't it a shell cameo? It weighs next to nothing, so total weight is close to gold weight. Pin stems are often a lower fineness of gold or not gold at all because they need to be stronger, so you may want to allow for that. But even the findings on this one look like gold to me.

 

Bronwen is happy to hear it. The realm of cameos is so much greater than most people now realize, the world is so flooded with mediocre carved ones & artificial ones.

 

It's a nice piece & does appear to be hardstone, but too much money. If you're going to spend that much, you do need to consider whether you will be able to resell it someday without taking a big loss. Since there is no mount, value is entirely in the cameo. No matter how well done, the market for portraits of other people's husbands is not large unless the piece is signed. Is this being sold on line? Are there other photos, including the back? Sellers often miss signatures, even when they show in their own photos. You don't want to ask because if it is signed they will then presumably raise the price.

I have a handful of male portraits. Well, maybe a few more than a handful, but they are all shell & I only bought ones that were cheap, exceptionally good or signed. I have 5 that are signed by known engravers: Tommaso Saulini; Filippo Tignani; 2 by Pio Siotto; Paolo Neri or workshop of.

Portraits of non-famous women are much rarer. On my 2 Pinterest boards I currently have 160 examples of portraits of men, although some of them are famous, while there are only 65 of women & some of those are Queen Victoria. Women wore cameos of husbands; men, if they had a cameo of their wife or mother at all, had it in a case or little stand that they could take with them when they traveled. Cameos of women that have been set as jewellery are probably someone's sainted mother or daughter. I have only 3 of women. One is shell in a little calf skin case. Another is a hardstone cameo signed by Rudolph Otto, engraver to the royal court of Bohemia around the turn of the 20th century, which is in a brass folding easel style frame. The third is a shell cameo signed by Filippo Negroni, less well known than Saulini, et al., but, like them, recorded in the guidebooks of his time.

To sum up, I would recommend to you the course I have followed myself when it comes to anonymous portraits: buy good ones that are cheap; buy ones that are signed & reasonable. Don't buy the one you've shown us unless it's really calling to you & money is no object.

 

Beautiful!!
Zeus, as a human and with his eagle personification, I presume?

 

Welcome, Nazim. Fridolina's Venus cameos were inspired by Venus wearing a diadem, like your terracotta head, but they are from the 20th century, when cameo carvers were making classical beauties look more like contemporary ideas of beauty. One of the major changes was to noses; another was to hairstyles.

My avatar is also Venus, with the hair on top of her head arranged almost like a bow, in what is known as a Venus knot, a style suited for days when she is not wearing a diadem.

 

Or the eagle that is his servant, attacking a snake encircling the scene as an ouroboros. Now where the heck is it?!

 

Bronwen, thank you very much! That’s a sensible course of action. There were no other photos. I asked the seller for some more and if the price is negotiable but I haven’t received any reply yet.
I doubt if I’ll get a significant discount if any.
I know, I should follow your advice and walk away.

 

If it's signed by a recognizable name the price is reasonable for retail, not for resale.

 

Last night I watched Troy and this is a quote from the movie:
“I spoke with 2 farmers today.
They saw an eagle flying with a serpent clutched in its talons.
This is a sign from Apollo. We will win a great victory tomorrow.”
Apollo is mentioned just because he is the Trojans’ god protector.

 

Yeah, the war caused a real rift on Olympus. Venus was also on the side of the Trojans. Zeus eventually decreed that they all stay out of it.

 

It’s silly quoting Hollywood not the Iliad, isn’t it