Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Yeah....they can feel free to deaccession any of the pieces in the bottom photo to me. Very pretty.

 

I'd settle for the Aurora that was shown more completely in the other thread.



Quite a good Asklepios too.

 

I like the St. Michael (or St George)... I need a few dragons slain these days.

 

I own one Stephenson and one King cameo, both of which are posted on this forum. I am on the lookout for more, but do not always have the time to search and bid or if I do, I don't win the auction. I recently missed a Kinney cameo that sold in June. I just saw it earlier this week. Ugggh!!

 

Great idea! I hadn't thought about doing that.

 

Sounds like you two should pool your interests & resources on American cameists for your mutual enjoyment.

 

Ah so I will have you be haunted too...



He was part of a ridiculous 20+ lot of mostly generic early 20th c ladies, and the bidding went high. I hate when they haunt me! At least we know he exists for our files.

I hate to be a bother, which is why I haven't tracked down the curator to email yet, but I'll do that this week while I'm thinking about it. I figure they probably like geeking out about their collections, and others have had good luck engaging. Won't know til I try and it BUGS me that we can't see them!

 

Yes, I will be haunted, too. Here is the one that I didn't see until it was too late. Signed BH Kinney 1853. Can't see a number from the pics provided by the auctioneer, unfortunately.

 

won the BH Kinney cameo! I will post pics once I receive it.

On another note, I got a new phone as my old one met an untimely end when it whizzed off the top of my car and got run over by a truck. With the new phone, I no longer have the option to post the pics directly in with the text. I can only post them as jpgs attached to the post. Any ideas as to why and what I can do about it?

 

I don't know why... you might post this as a query in the Support & Testing forum up in the top section of this site. Include the brand and model of your new phone, and also if possible include a screenshot of what the editing area looks like while you are writing a post. I'm assuming you no longer see the "Upload a File" button? There are also other ways to include pictures, I've heard. But I always use that.

 

my old one met an untimely end when it whizzed off the top of my car and got run over by a truck

Hardly what one would call a ' smart ' phone !

 

I will do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

I can upload a file, but it shows up at the bottom of the post as a file that must be clicked on to open. See my "haunted" post above as an example.

 

Good one!!

 

.

 

A couple of gents that have come to live with me...



Looks like Antinous, but with his toga on the opposite shoulder than the Braschi sculpture, and a lot less flair. The photo of this cameo was so blurry I didn't even realize who it was until later...I just thought the hair had lovely carving. They sold him as silver even though he was clearly gold when I got him. I haven't tested it, but it's the same color as 9K I think. He is the same size, color and I think similar carving style as the Juno I have.



This gent came from the UK, which makes sense...even though two sellers didn't recognize him as Shakespeare. I see a lot of these lesser carved style/color cameos so does this point to England for these type of carvings?





He's about 1" and the frame has these holes. I assumed because he was part of a bracelet or maybe a double strand necklace. All the bracelets I've seen so far have small loops soldered to the side though.

 

Definitely does.

Will you display them together?

As a side question: do you display your cameos? Most, many, a few? I have quite a few in a large display cabinet mixed in with seashells, Zuni carvings & kaleidoscopes, but as many or more tucked away in boxes. Would need a custom built cabinet in order to display more & better.

I think it points to Italian cameists knowing their market & producing such cameos for the patriotic British economy class tourist. Have to remember they were businessmen as well as artisans.

 

I've wanted an Antinous since I first saw a cameo of him but he's always obscenely expensive. And then I bought one by accident! It's made all the more worse by the fact that I was reading Michelle Rowan's book with a gorgeous Antinous Braschi on the cover at the time I bought this one. Felt so dumb but so happy. In my defense, it was a VERY blurry photo.

I am and I do! Let me first say that I live in a 100% humidity climate in a 100 yr old home so Byne's Disease scares me. I also wanted to display the collection as art. Originally I wanted to do a hinged shadow box but those are made of wood and have no air flow. So I sourced these jewelry boxes that have pierced sides, mirror bottom, and glass top.



They usually live in my dark bedroom, but recently I've had them out on my studio desk so I can enjoy them while I'm in here. Had some artist friends over recently and they took a tour lol.

First box is shell, lava, dripstone.


Second box is coral, diana agate, various interesting-to-me costume pieces, and a miniature painted portrait.


I was buying a third box, but that seller just cancelled after she couldn't find it. I might need to broaden my search for larger boxes anyway... These are the bits I picked up to wear that don't display as well top-down, and I've got in with my other jewelry boxes/display at the moment. Was going to craft a ring display for the third box. Still thinking on it...



I have a couple cameo-adjacent pieces on display in our library. The plaster I posted in here, and a Volkstedt plaque of Queen Louise as Juno. I also have a "cameo learning library" box of various costume bits that have come to me as tag-alongs in lots. Not for display or wearing, but as material examples.

Your display is legendary Bronwen. I feel like you need a whole army of those slanted acrylic shelves to fit any more in that cabinet! I have a secret wish to see an entire catalog of your collection because I imagine it would be an amazing archive of art and learning all together. I content myself with seeing the photos of your current display and the additional caches of jewels you post.

I guess I'd seen enough of these flat carvings with questionable faces that I thought that carver would get laughed out of Torre del Greco. They seem to be Renaissance or other atypical themes too.


Now I want to see every one's cameo displays! Or just their collections together in general. Any excuse to see pretty carvings, honestly.

 

For anyone's files who only have the dirty, blurry version from the Bay, here is that scarf pin sized John King cameo:



I think the seller's idea that it was John Quincy Adams is unlikely given the lack of facial hair.


King
N. 490
1878

I did not pay anywhere in the vicinity of their asking price. I thought it had sat for long enough it wouldn't hurt to make a (very low in comparison to asking) offer and expected it to be immediately rebuffed, but they accepted. I'm surprised at the level of detail he got out of something the size of a fingernail.

 

The shape of the head is wrong too. Also the wrong nose. It is however a heckuva carving for something that small.

 

I have made a spreadsheet of known carvings and then profile photos or etchings of the claimed sitters (Yes, I currently have no life) and it seems every seller's claim is wrong. I've gotten to know a lot of 1800s wacky facial hair styles though. Horace Greely's is possibly the best/worst.