Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Thank you. Are they likely modern or have some age?

 

That’s very naughty. Too many sellers implying that what they are selling is something else. They just skip round actual fraud by being vague.

 

Check all over his web site. You'll see both his efforts to simultaneously sell new work, particularly portraits, while representing some of it as antique. Then there are his theories on how cameos can improve your eyesight, your appearance & your psychological welfare. I hadn't looked at it in a while. The plaster casts of his cameos are a new line, as are the bell jars. Think the claim that the boxes are made by their own bookbinder is also new.

When I first found him on eBay I also questioned him about the age of a piece that had caught my eye. In those days he used to write long mineralogical descriptions along with the vague language about provenance. I got back a testy reply saying the language was clear enough.

A few years later, having apparently pegged me as a big buyer of cameos, in some way I still don't understand (eBay was less careful with member info then) he got hold of my personal e-mail & wrote trying to sell me his cameos. Told him my most recent purchases were signed by well known 19th century gem engravers. He changed his approach, trying to make me a colleague, offering to help me. Also tried to sell me on a portrait of myself. Told him it was the last thing I needed. Mercifully, he did not persist in his efforts.

 

Mid-20th, at a guess. Not brand new, not antique.

 

Would appreciate your comments. We didn't buy this cameo, nor did we receive it as a gift. It literally fell into our hands. But more after the photos:



The mount is gilded sterling silver. Measurements: Mount - 44mm x 34mm
Thickness - 13mm

Appreciate your comments.

 

Wish it had fallen into mine. Surprised it is in such a humble setting. It is a hardstone (agate) cameo of Antinous, the companion of the Emperor Hadrian who drowned in the Nile. Hadrian had him deified.

 

To continue the story: It was 47 years ago. My wife and I had an appointment with the head teacher at the local council nursery and we were hoping there was a place for her. There was, but a year later.

As we walked away my wife noticed a ribbon stuck in a hedge, and on retrieving it, there was this cameo. I must confess that I thought the brown on her hair was glue. We took it to the police station, and three months later received a letter telling us to collect.

We both think it is lovely.

 

It is lovely & she's a he. The brown is just the next layer of stone.

 

Someone must have been brokenhearted to lose this, but you did what you could to restore it to the owner.

 

Bronwen, thank you for that. I recall that we did take it to a jeweller at the time. He too commented on the mount and suggested we could have it remounted in gold, but he attributed the model to a Victorian female, and didn't mention the stone.

I think he suggested that in the current mounting it was worth about £100, and we didn't have enough money then for necessities, let alone a gold mount.

My wife has just corrected me. She says the jewellery did mention the three colours of agate, and it was that that made it interesting. She also thinks he said it was Victorian, without adding gender.

We haven't got it insured, but perhaps we should, what level would you go for if it fell into your hands today?

I couldn't find a left looking profile, but this one to the right is the spitting image.

Thanks again, it's good to know who it is.

 

That’s wonderful. What a lucky find

 

Quite beautiful! You have taken good care of it, too.

 

Your cameo is based on the Antinous Braschi, the one I posted, not the Antinous Mondragone.

Mondragone:

Braschi:

Most jewellers are far more knowledgeable about the metal of the setting than about cameos themselves. Yours was correct that yours is Victorian and the quality is quite a bit higher than that of the mount it is in, only because it is silver instead of gold.

Cameo prices have been all over the place. I see outrageous asking prices for quite ordinary shell cameos. At present a cameo set in silver is not selling for any more than a cameo that is not mounted at all. I would value your cameo at 400 GBP minimum to perhaps 600 GBP at the top. That is only my opinion of what would be a fair price in current conditions. Appraisals for insurance purposes, at least in the US, tend to be highly inflated & might double that.

I have cameos all around but only worry about possible theft in the case of those in gold mounts, as well as those that are not it solid gold but look like it. Thieves are more interested in melt value. They know even less about the value of cameos than jewellers do. I would just recommend keeping yours someplace that's not obvious, not in the jewellery box on the dresser top. A thief might not stop to read the back.

You must feel that though it was someone's loss, it was meant to come to you.

 

Rarely have I seen such a load of tripe on his website!.I read a few sentences more than once and still couldn’t make head nor tail of them.
I honestly can’t think of anything else to say about the site other than he appears deluded and confused.

 

He's a one-off, or I hope he is. His work is easy to recognize. However, auctioneers in the world outside of eBay are unaware of his existence & his oeuvre. I did manage to get one auction house to pull a Litinvs production. I wrote & said I suspected it of being his, then gave them several places to look on line so they could make up their own minds. Their first response was to tell me the cameo came from a respected collector; their second thanked me for alerting them.

When I first saw his work on eBay, the item locations were all Switzerland. Gradually some, eventually all, were located in Cyprus. I don't know if he actually moved, or just found he couldn't keep the pretense up when he had to mail from Cyprus. The fantasy is that these cameos all come from an old collection of an old important Swiss family.

 

The possible fabrication around the cameos aside, the rest is just really odd- the eyesight bit and the psychological benefits?. I must read the whole thing at some point when I have time.

 

He's been at this for years now & I can't see his cameos are getting any better. But his claims for the virtues of cameos have grown more grandiose.

 

Deluded!

 

I see lots of antique/vintage photos with mature women wearing cameos but it's unusual to see a young girl wearing one. Possibly borrowed from mother for the photo occasion.

 

What a beautiful little girl!