Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

On the Egyptian ring with the Roman intaglio? Weird thing is same seller had 2 or 3 chunky gold rings said to be the work of a particular jeweller who had set Roman hardstone intaglios & priced accordingly. Can't remember now if he even knew the ring was Egyptian, although the style is characteristic & it has a full set of marks. For $65 got a banded glass intaglio very like one the Getty is pleased to own. Mine (flipped for easier comparison) & an impression made of theirs, which is also green, blue & white:

 

The four Kings George (and therefore pre-1910, I suppose):
From The Royal Collection, UK.

 

The Royal Collection is rich in cameos. When Victoria established her Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, she had cameos made for the badges:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Order_of_Victoria_and_Albert

For her own, she put Albert in front:

https://www.medals.org.uk/united-kingdom/united-kingdom015.htm

 

Just posting this because it tickles my fancy. Seller says it is Triton & Venus; I see a mermaid & a human man. Question is whether he is bringing her to the surface or she is pulling him to the bottom. Love the scallop shell 'fan.'

 

Prowling eBay, found this one, which is a good eye test. OK, gang, is this conch shell, coral, stone or glass? (And yes, the pin stem is missing.)




Think we can all agree it's filthy!

 

Glass, no doubt for me, feeling

 

Glass for me, too. Mostly because of the cracks/crazing in the back.

 

I would've said glass too, but the tiny holes on the back makes me think (probably I'm wrong) that this is a natural material..

 

We'll leave it until tomorrow to give an opportunity for a few more replies, then I'll do my usual what it's being sold as, what it is, & how you know bit. A round of applause to brave first responders.

 

Totally-otally molded glass, absolutely zero question in my mind.

Give me ten minutes, though and I'm sure I can over think it. No seriously, I'm pretty pleased that I've looked at enough listings to have confidence in my opinion.

Yes, I'll be crushed if I'm wrong.

 

I went looking...

 

Totally glass for me. Old glass maybe, but glass.

That striped Roman one ... the seller seriously blew it.(LOL) LOVE when that happens and I'm not the seller!

 

It being flat on the back and the texture, the little bubbles, say glass to me.

 

Congratulations all! Yes, being sold as stone, but glass it is.

For me, the first glaring thing is the color. It is not too far off conch shell, a material that is frequently, erroneously, identified as coral. No one fell for coral. Hooray! While conch shell pink is slightly bluish compared to angel skin coral, it doesn't go so close to purple as the lady in question does, while, for some reason, older pink glass often looks like this. Opaque pink stone is not common generally, so not seen often in cameos. This Hercules is an exception:




But our lady shows no layering.

She is overly shiny for conch shell. The pitting on the back is not entirely inconsistent with shell:



But, taken with all the other evidence, we can indeed write off the ones we're looking at as exploded bubbles in a former liquid.

Bravi!

 

Thank you @Bronwen for all the information !
I was the one who overthought in the end..

 

It takes looking at a lot of pictures that are coupled with accurate information to develop your eye. You just found out your gut feeling is more reliable than you thought.

 

I will try to keep that in mind.. when is the next test ?

 

Right now, if you like. The auction house listing this cameo says the figure is Cleopatra. Are they correct? If they are not, who do you think it is?

 

Not Cleopatra, I think it might be Athena (?)- it looks to me like a war goddess or something similar..

 

Minerva or Bellona? Thought a Roman goddess of war. More Minerva due to the scalloped enbonpoint and chariot helmet.