Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

It looks like either Incolay or some kind of resin. What is the size?

 

Seller states 2 inches x 3.5 inches. Big!
Seller also states that it's "carved" but doesn't know the medium.

Hmmm, I've been suspecting that it is some kind of plastic/resin/etc and perhaps originally from a trinket box or something of that nature.

 

I don't think it's actually carved, but sellers often say that kind of thing about cameo-like items. Since you don't have it in hand I guess we can't tell what it is for sure.

I wonder about the image on it. There is a horse, and a young man (or woman?) wearing a sword.

 

Someone on the Art board posted a link to Christies site and there is a story on emeralds, I had to post this photo:



The link to the story is https://www.christies.com/features/Collecting-Guide-Emeralds-9677-1.aspx?sc_lang=en

 

Very contemporary resin. Scary, isn't it? In a setting, it could easily be taken for something like this:

 

Nice cameo! And what story is it depicting? Looks like a child is being held by one ankle?

 

At first I thought it might be something to do with Achilles' heel but it looks the child is being dangled over a fire!

 

We can add up the visual clues & be quite confident.

I had that thought too, so compared it to some Incolay examples. Original Incolay tends to have the colors mixed in as broader swirls, not tiny ripples or speckles, but there is a definite resemblance.

I did not realize from the photo that it's that big, but could see it was at least 2 inches tall. A major clue is how flat it is. Large sections of shell are never so flat. Actual size is huge, so probably was meant to be inset into a box lid, or even to be the entire lid itself. Other clues are those parallel scratches on the back from grinding & the thinness of the top layer. A give away is here, where a bubble popped.

Young man, surely. Joan of Arc is the only female figure who might have been shown at all like this.

 

Correct & correct:

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/4353D96B-E95A-4D55-8DD7-6A516C489805

 

I don't often like precious stones cut as cameos, but she can take up residence here anytime she likes.

 

I'm looking at this cameo, and wondering if the white patches might be Byne's? There are no patches on the front of the piece, just the back.

 

It looks fine. White patches on the back are quite common. Natural to the shell; left there as not worth removing.

 

I wouldn't run her off either.

Here's another one, bought this morning in a pile o'stuff at an estate sale. I thought for sure it was a gold-filled case with a modern cameo. It's 14k with a pre-WWII safety catch. It was on a junk chain and they thought she was junk. Oops.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

 

Thank you for the analysis!

 

You definitely can't always judge a cameo by the company it keeps. In the academic glyptics world, anything post-Renaissance is 'modern'.

Was hoping you would find something nice for your birthday.

 

She is an emerald, so very welcome in this emerald-friendly home as well.

 

My birthday is actually tomorrow; for some reason the site thinks it's today.
The flight of stairs I had to go up to find her didn't do me any favors; I'm praying for crop failure for my birthday.

 

Savers said they had this appraised by a jeweler, it’s very poorly marked 14k but it’s not even gold and the cameos are resin, total crud. They sold a fake Rolex appraised by the same jeweler for $299.99+ even after I told them it was fake, the buyer found out and filed a complaint with the attorney generals office to get their money back, they sold me the real one for $4.99+.

 

I have inveighed repeatedly about jeweller/appraisers & the nonsense they produce concerning cameos, but they are usually fairly reliable in the matter of precious metals. Sad. Hope no one is taken in by this.