Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

If you see a cameo of some size that has the coloration of helmet shell but is thick with a flat back, you're almost always looking at resin. The grind marks are also telltale. They are getting frighteningly good at reproducing the colors.

 

Sorry there..... I mistook one cameo for the other and spoke to quickly !!

 

It’s really well done and I even need to test the frame.

I think RG does indeed mean rolled gold. It’s the right age bracket for that.

 

All 3 of these are resin:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/395583911870

 

I have a few resin in my collection that I knew were resin when I bought them, but I found them to be interesting/pretty/fun.

 

How I had my Come To Cameos moment:

Shopping on-line for antiques/collectibles

 

Yep, and I consider French glass cameos to be far more worth having than many a hacked out shell cameo.

 

I love the black Czech molded glass ones from the 20s and 30s.

 

I have to take photos of some of my wife's cameos. She has a beautiful collection.

This one she bought today. The carving is magnificent. The seller said it tested 14k gold on the setting. But, it's not marked. I don't personally care. The art is what makes this magnificent.

My wife got them to take 10% off, I got her an extra 5%. Unfortunately my wife does not understand how to haggle. Look at how beautifully detailed the faces
are.

 

That's beautiful! Is it signed?

 

It is. Even with my glasses on I can't see it. So, I know I can't take a photo of it. My wife thought it said Italy, until she saw it starts with a V.

She pointed it out to me, and with a magnifying glass, I could see there was something there, just didn't have a clue to what it was.

 

I can't see it. So, I know I can't take a photo of it

you would be amazed...... at just how many of us have taken a photo of a small item....... only to realize that the nothing we thought was not there....... pops out of the photo , revealing itself to our utter surprise !!

 

I was browsing today for cameos and realized I had seen this before somewhere.


I found it on Etsy- as a molded cameo!

The seller of the molded cameo is from Riga, Latvia, while the real cameo is in New York City. It's the first time I've seen a molded cameo that includes the frame of the antique cameo.

 

Neat , eh !!!!

 

I imagine you know this is Raphael's Madonna della Sedia/Seggiola. She makes for a beautiful cameo, as do some others of his.

This one is known as the Bridgewater Madonna, after the place where it is (was?) held:



From my 'gallery', for comparison:

 

Komo is right. Very often faint marks difficult to see with the unaided, or even aided, eye show up when photographed in the right light at the right angle. Can't tell you how many times I've acquired a signed piece from a seller who had no idea but would have, if they had looked at their own photos more carefully.

I've had the most success capturing inscriptions using light from a window that needs to be washed & shooting from a 45-60 degree angle when calibrated from directly straight down.

We'd like to see the back anyway, to get a better idea of age.

 

!!!! Someone took a really good impression of the original. What were the chances of your seeing both?!

 

Yes. We looked it up when we got home and I found a site with the painting. I also found the cameo you posted and its pricetag. I could never afford that. It's gorgeous.

 

I will give it a shot.

 

This is the best I can do on the back. This was one of about 20 photos. The others you could see nothing.

It's hard to see. But, there are two lines along the side away from the name.

If this is recognizable, you're a better person than I. If it can be aged also, that would be great.

This is of course the front -