Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I have this cameo of Michelangelo which has these tiny holes like it’s been eaten by a micro “woodworm”.
Obviously it’s not a woodworm but the appearance is very similar.
It must be some parasite microorganism that drills through the shell.
Has anyone come across such thing before?
I’m surprised that the carver wasn’t bothered by this and still used it.

 

Things found on an engraving forum. Modern cameo carver with short videos and examples of cameos. https://www.facebook.com/antonio.guarracino.568

 

She really is.

It surprises me too. It's a very good Michelangelo. If the cutter did not discover the damage until the piece was well along, I can see finishing it despite the little holes & what looks like one little tunnel. However, I can't imagine that the blemishes weren't evident on the shell before carving work was started. You see this sort of thing in coral & on the backs of some conch pieces;



It's a What was he thinking? mystery.

Not on FB so couldn't watch, Sure those who can access it will find it interesting.

 

To bad,but he did have a notice for an art show in Italy which does have a small cameo section. https://www.astecoralliecammei.it/?...wFqzmHtfpdAeZ9GZ8y28XzriMp4arqFOsjX-3b_seJy34

 

Didn't find Antonio Guarracino but did find a big gallery for Gennaro Garofalo. Really interesting to see a number of works by the same artist all together. I don't like much modern Italian cameo work, but there are some among his that I liked. Just think, in 100 years they'll seem quaint.

 

Thanks! Now I know it’s on some other cameos as well.
Probably there was a shortage of carving material...
I’m guessing it was a touristy piece so they didn’t care much.

 

Michelangelo is a stock subject (this whole thread starts with Mick) so maybe it does not take as much time to complete one as we imagine & cutter did not care about imperfections in the surface. Hard to imagine there was a lack of more suitable material when this one was made. Wouldn't be surprised if the situation were different now.

 

Most likely they kept the better shells for more profitable work like portraits and pretty goddesses.

BTW a better carved and much bigger Michelangelo to this, but not a museum quality imo, just sold on eBay with highest bid of £265. The starting price was £0.99
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANTIQUE-...ER-GILT-FRAME/313301787096#vi__app-cvip-panel

 

The primary image for the cameos is a medal by Girometti:

 

Just for a benchmark, here is one of the same subject, except cut in helmet shell & mounted in faceted jet: http://www.ebay.com/itm/174467465497
Sold for 212 GBP. Hardstone always sells for more than shell, as long as the carving is comparable or better. Yours is comparable & not a common subject for hardstone.

 

I've been following this thread for quite a while - I actually very much admire the skills that go into cameo carving and have been browsing Ebay listings some lately. Well, I bought one, because it was cheap, and I figured it'd be a good learning experience.

Wondering how old, and where made... It's shell I'm pretty sure, and I'm thinking mid-ish 20th - maybe Italy? Is this Flora, or just a lady with flowers in her hair? My guesses are based on my reading of this thread mostly (learning from Bronwen's amazing knowledge!). The pin is marked but I can't make it out. I'm thinking it's either sterling or perhaps gold filled? Mount has marcasites on the front. About 1 1/8 inches long including the setting.

 

Where do you buy your cameos from?
I haven’t seen anything nice reasonably priced on eBay lately.

 

@aaroncab polish that puppy, the case will be brighter and the marcasites will shine

 

Hi aaroncab, congratulations on the acquisition of your first cameo! My first one was very similar.
I think, you are absolutely right about when and where it was made.
IMO yours is very nicely carved in the style of the time.

https://www.clutterfingers.com/listing/704517047/mid-century-italian-melior-ceramiche-red
I only can add that it was made out of Carnelian shell, Cassis Rufa, which has orange-brown background and slightly coloured white layer.

 

She's on that borderline between Flora & a pretty art nouveau lady with flowers in her hair. The mark on the pin stem is probably an incomplete 800 mark. She was cut & set in Italy. Think it was established somewhere earlier in this thread that the 800 mark wasn't used after 1934(?) [Help me someone!] With that type of safety clasp I'd say more likely to be 30s than 20s, but I really don't know when they came on the market.

I can never tell, never try to tell, Cassis rufa from Cassis madagascariensis. There's individual variability in the coloring & no difference in value. Fridolina is probably correct about rufa; think it tends to be darker.

I wipe these with a Sunshine cloth (or similar), leaving most of the background silver dark but bringing out the marcasites so they twinkle.

Agree that eBay has become a cameo desert. Mediocre to poor specimens for ludicrous prices. The occasional high quality piece $1,000+. I know some of it has to do with the price of gold. Sometimes shockingly bad cameos still get set in 14k & sellers have some inflated idea of just how much gold a typical cameo mount has, resulting in ridiculous pricing. But something else is at work. @aaroncab why did you want a cameo? Do you still have the one of the guy smoking that used to be your avatar? What is the appeal of cameos at this moment? Trying to understand the cameo climate.

 

Will do...just arrived today...I'll post updated pics after cleaning.

 

Your avatar just made me think of one of these cameo ladies with a mask over her nose & mouth. Can't stop chuckling.

 

This is the link with the Italian silver hallmarks:
http://www.silvercollection.it/italianhallmarks.html
800 is still in use but from 1934 with the addition of cartouche and other symbols.
If it’s only the number, it’s before 1934.
It’s difficult to tell what type is aaroncab’s.

 

Thanks for reconnecting the silver info. I would lay money that the mark on aaron's cameo says 800.

 

Do you think there is an oval outline around the number?

“December 1970 n. 1496 (D.P.R. 30 Dicembre 1970 n. 1496) introduced new hallmarks for silver and precious metals. The mark was modified to a polygonal shape and a star was added on the left. Numbers and Province letter were maintained.
Purity degree 925, 835 and 800 per thousand were allowed and inscribed into an oval outlined mark. Silver fineness 835/1000 is very rarely used.
This system is still in use in present days.”