Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Mad, bad, & dangerous to know.

Maybe Shelley?

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp04088/percy-bysshe-shelley

 

I don't know if it's him, the cameo is someone much younger and he was usually facing the other way. But.. it was some dude with artistic pretensions. Possibly a follower-of rather than one of the pricipals.

 

After Gustav Richter, Neapolitan fisher boy!
It was wildely reproduced in jewelry and KPM porcelain plaques.
https://artvee.com/dl/neapolitan-fisher-boy/

 

Bingo! Thanks. I paid $20 for him, so not too bad no matter what.

 

Things that startle me:

That anyone would pay 50 GBP + fees for a mass produced, crazed glass cameo:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...aign=auction-alert&utm_content=lot-image-link

Just how inventive engraved gems can be:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...aign=auction-alert&utm_content=lot-image-link

 

maybe cuz they believe ..A 19th century lava carved cameo brooch in a bright yellow metal mount,.....can be flipped for more???

 

That's what I was thinking, that and it was bought by someone who doesn't realize real cameos are not glued together.

 

Just received a new cameo to share and also an earlier purchase I forgot to share. The large one was sold to me as Vulcanite but appears to be two pieces rather than one carved piece - I wonder if it's moulded. 5cm by 4cm. The smaller is set in 9ct gold, sold as moulded glass but looks like larva to me - nose is chipped. Cameo by itself 2.5 x 2cm. both have c clasps so assume some age. Thanks in advance for any information/comments on either piece.

 

gee, I'm sorry, but I don't see any redeeming qualities in either.
scrap the gold, toss em in a drawer.....& hunt for something better.

Larva......that's spell check, right ?

 

Oh gosh, meant lava!

 

Interesting shape to the second brooch!

The hinge on the second one is a little unusual, not what I would usually think of as 19th century. But maybe somebody else knows more.

 

These 2 things are not mutually exclusive. Vulcanite is molded, not carved.

Second one looks like la[r]va to me too.

This shape has come to be known as Halley's comet, although the first comet-inspired brooches were more stellar.

 

So around 1910, then? Or a bit later since you mentioned that the first were more stellar.

 

I checked the 2 I have with this hand mirror shape. They have very similar T-hinges of the type I associate with the turn of the century. I can imagine that enthusiasm over the comet predated the 1910 appearance of the comet, since the date of its reappearance was known. The hinge on Dory's piece is later than that, but not by much.

 

My first treat in a while.

Before



After

 

Shell set in jet?

 

Yes, a substantial slab of conch shell in a jet mount. It is unusual in that the jet was not just premade & the shell wedged into it. The jet follows the curving edges of the shell, the way a custom metal bezel would.

 

Nice. I have one of the other sort. Premade jet mount, and cameo that was cut down to fit.

 

I never know whether to laugh or cry when I see this:

Very finely carved antique silver mounted cameo signed indistinctly to reverse




Already has 2 bids, as of this post.

 

OK, I'll bite ....why ?