Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I see, very interesting! I agree, she's got a much more real/regular woman look than ethereal!

 

Yes, there's something on there but I can't quite make it out- there's an odd squiggle looking thing above the 10k and then to the right of it what looks like an encircled "B"

 

@Bronwen An interesting subject and material (quahog color?) 3.8 x 3.3cm about 1.5" x 1.3"

 

Looks like cowrie shell.

 

It is an interesting one. I've had it on my Watch List. The material is cowrie, probably tiger cowrie. (Confusingly, tiger cowries have spots.) It is used most often for landscape scenes, particularly Mt. Vesuvius/Bay of Naples and Mt.Fuji.

https://cameotimes.com/index.php/profiles-1/miscellaneous/mt-vesuvius

This one appears to be Japanese, but not Fuji.

 

Holly nailed it while I was typing.

 

Somali cupids? Most unusual. Bronwen, thank you, this is all fascinating. I'm off to find my mother's cameo to take a pic to post.

 

Hello,

I'm new here too and it was really fun to look and read about cameos.. I've learned so much and I have the feeling this is only the beginning..
Here is my collection.. I know the coral ring isn't very well done, but I remember buying it for a good price, so..
I'm not sure about the blue one, though.. the background looks like enamel, but I haven't found a similar one..
Thanks for looking !

 

I like the setting with the blue stones around it. It seems unusual. And the one with the two rows of pearls around the setting seems like the best-carved cameo, and possibly the oldest one.

The one with the blue background is a little blurry on my screen. It reminds me of one I used to have that was made of white milk glass and the background had been painted brown. So, different color background but that's what it reminds me of!

 

I also love the one with turquoise stones around the rim- Is that a palm tree in the scene?? Very interesting!!

 

Welcome, Xristina. A lovely collection. Comments already posted are all excellent. As Fig said, the one rimmed in pearls is the best work. It is the god Dionysus/Bacchus. Helmet shell that is doing a good job of mimicking hardstone.

I think the one with the turquoise-dotted rim is probably the oldest. (When trying to date mounted pieces it is always useful to see the back; hinges & clasps changed more than cameo styles.) Scenes like this are frequently described as being from the Biblical story of Rebecca encountering Eliezer at the well, but are not. I think of them as Woman in Country Lane. For Rebecca, see:

https://cameotimes.com/index.php/profiles-1/religious/rebecca-at-the-well

These country scene cameos are a genre of their own. They are never very well done, and I have never seen any two exactly alike, suggesting cutters devised the compositions themselves, selecting elements from a conventional list: one or more human figures, most often a woman in this style of dress; a gnarled, wind-swept tree; buildings, sometimes in ruins or improbably balanced; often a pond with waterfowl or a stream with a little bridge; as in the 'Rebecca' ones, a well or well house. It's the setting that makes this one stand out.

The one with the blue background is exactly what Fig said. They are white Czech glass, then painted in all sorts of ways:


With its blue background, yours has been made to look like Limoges porcelain, such as this piece by Camille Tharaud:



The swag necklace is great fun. Cameos are a mix of helmet and conch shell. The bracelet with all the 'pretty ladies' is probably 1950s - early 60s. The one with the three little round cameos is quite modern and may not be hand carved. Still, a sweet, appealing piece. As you note, the coral cameo is not the highest quality work, but would have been quite attractive when new. Cameos of all types are too easily damaged to make good ring stones. Someone actively wore this one; she is now somewhat eroded.

Did I get them all? And do you ever wear them?

 

@Xristina I meant to remind you to check for signatures. The vast majority of cameos are not signed and not all signed pieces are particularly good, but you never know unless you check with good light and magnification. Most signatures are incised into the back. Sometimes they are so lightly scratched, you can only see them if angled just the right way.

 

Thank you, everybody, for all your answers and for all the information !
The cameo with a blue background isn't very well carved and my picture was a little blurry too.. that's why I couldn't find in online, my search was done using "enamel" instead of "glass".. and the pink one looks very much like mine in its setting..
I think I like them more that I get to wear them.. I'm a jeans girl and I have this crazy idea that for the cameos you should dress more elegantly, I don't know why..
I've attached a back picture for the cameo with the blue stones.. I didn't want to load to many pictures yesterday..

 

Nah, you can wear them with anything. Certainly the bracelets & the ring could be signature pieces for you. The necklace would be dynamite with any single color, round necked top. I admit brooches are less for everyday, requiring positioning.

I'm not quite sure, but think the findings, the hinge, pin & clasp of the country scene cameo have been replaced. They are definitely 20th century; the cameo & its frame are earlier in style.

 

I still don't know, but I now own 5:

 

At the request of @Ownedbybear Frankly, I bought this bracelet because I had hopes from the seller's blurry, underlit photos, and price was right to take a gamble. My hopes evaporated when he arrived, but he has his own kind of interest.



Metal seems to have been gilt originally. Think the underlying metal is brass - smells like it - but it is so dark in places, I wonder. It is growing verdigris like moss, but I am concerned about whether the cameo could safely endure immersion in anything for very long, even plain water, and the cameo medallion is the part most in need of a clean.

I had my fingers crossed for the cameo to be hardstone like this one. Could not see in listing photos that background is not dark brown or black, it is sort of a deep marine blue with some brownish areas. Nor could I see all the little pock marks where small bubbles popped. Because of the way the brown has been applied to the laurel wreath, I am guessing the cameo is glass paste, or at least that touch is. The plug ugly gent is the Roman emperor Nero.






OBB & I were discussing tongue & box clasps. So here come some detail pix.

 

Top side of tongue:



Underside:



Seen edge on it is quite fancy:



Terrible pic, but this is mouth the tongue goes into. It has a little bead attached to the roof that snaps into the little hole on the top side of the tongue. The underside has a matching little hole, but does not seem to have a purpose. Maybe the tongue was clamped down for drilling, which then went through both sides.



One of the things I like about Victorian jewellery is that it is more likely to fit my skinny wrists and scrawny neck. (On the other hand - this image is going to get weird - I don't have the bosom to support some of the cameos of the era. They can be massive.) This bracelet is only slightly too long, so not much problem with rolling.

Floor is open. Comments? Questions?

 

The only things that occur to me are... 1) this might be difficult to clean, especially the bezel around the cameo (but you already knew this, I'm sure); and 2) I like the cameo, bubbles, ugly Nero, and all!

 

I like him too. I'm surprised at how often he turns up as a cameo. And in ladies' jewellery. Who would want to wear him? Except, sometimes I do. I have another you would never recognize as Nero. Took me a good long while to work it out. I have posted him elsewhere before, but really love him:





As for cleaning...? Maybe one of our members who has more technical knowledge will have a suggestion. Earlier today I was trying to see if I could gouge out the worst of the incrustation with the tip of a hatpin. Worked a little. Not exactly efficient.

 

I'd say your bracelet is between the wars Czech brass. I have some with similar links. Construction looks right for then, too. And they did make poured glass "cameos".