Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

She'll be crying into her cornflakes.

 

I got this one today (it has a small crack in it).. the metal tests as 10k gold, but the stone is not glass, it tests as garnet/tourmaline/iolite ? Is there such thing as a garnet cameo ? Found something similar online, but mine looks darker - because of the closed back or because it is not garnet?.. no idea.. Thank you for your input !

 

Looks like it is covered with paint.

 

Yes, cameos can be carved in anything, although translucent monochromatic stones are more often used for intaglios.

Tests by what method? @Hollyblue Can a Presidium type tester accurately test something surrounded in metal this way?

Garnet comes in a whole array of colors. From photos, this is more like the color of chalcedony called sard. However, cannot rule out from pix the possibility of glass if the gold back is making it test as harder than it really is.

 

I think most testers use heat transfer,the stone needs to be clean and free of oils,etc.The stone is a different color and texture on the left side and looks like paint has chipped off in that area in the photo.

 

So wouldn't being in such an enclosed mount affect the reading given by that kind of tester?

I'm reading the pix as showing the piece has taken a knock from the edge & the broken up area is now showing lighter than the intact part:

 

I don't know what I'm looking at, but I definitely see why holly says "paint"...

 

Thank you for all your answers !
I washed it with warm water and soap (now I can see from the pictures that I didn't wash it very thoroughly) and here are the new pictures..
Sorry for the last picture -it is kind of blurry, because I had to use only the right hand while taking it .. my helper (aka my daughter) is still asleep..

 

Although I still don't know how reliable a reading taken on material surrounded by metal can be, I believe one somewhat below quartz is consistent with glass. In the pic right above the one with the tester dial, definitely looks like a molded piece.

 

Glass it is, then. This one goes to my private stash and I will definitely wear it, so it doesn’t matter that much.
Thank you for all your help !

 

The top of the stone is not near metal,there are many bezel set stone where metal is much closer.The probe should be placed on the "discolored" area.

 

The test result in the image does appear to say Glass. I agree with Hollyblue that the probe should be placed in the discolored area, if that hasn't been done yet.

About the stone being enclosed in metal, I've had good results with testing items where the "stones" are set like that. (I put stones in quotes because many of mine are glass.) Just don't touch the metal with the probe or there will be an ear-splitting shriek coming from the machine.

 

I should add that I have no problem with good honest glass. James Tassie's fame began when Catherine the Great ordered a complete set of the glass paste impressions he was making of engraved gems in famous collections. If you couldn't own the original, a high quality copy was considered perfectly respectable. There was less of a problem then with glass circulating & passing as stone than with newly engraved stones being sold as antiquities.

 

I don't have any problem with glass either.. If I'm selling something, I want to be as sure as possible that I'm not selling glass as garnet because I don't want to deceive anybody.
I like this particular cameo and I will keep it for myself, so if it's glass, it's glass.. it doesn't matter that much for me..

 

I like it, too.

 

I've been Egypt-obsessed for the last few days and this would be mine if I had a spare $1800 laying around. There's even a tantalizing glimpse of a signature on the back!

 

The readings on the discolored area (inside and outside)...

 

Very close to what you had before. Chrysoprase is in the chalcedony family of microcrystalline quartz, so still looks right for glass. She's very pretty. Hope you will now feel free to wear her & not fear that you are jeopardizing something better left safely in a box.

 

Popping in to share the newest lady collected, and not wearing a headband for once!



The back is scratched to crap but thankfully not cracked. I’m hoping to get this set in a mount of some kind so I can wear her. As usual with the items I get, no story with this. The sellers father liked to collect items and while liquidating his estate this cameo was found.