Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I'm turning the color of angelskin coral. Thanks for the kind words.

 

Viewed someplace at some distant point in time. Charles Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis flying past Statue of Liberty,not sure who woman represented.

 

It's the sort of thing I like. The stone is quite an old one, although I can't say whether it is actually an antiquity. It is no doubt copied from an ancient gem if it is not one itself. Wish my knowledge of classical literature were extensive enough to identify what is taking place here, who the figures are. I can't think of any episode in which anyone is hanged. There are many clues, but, alas, I cannot read them.

 

That's quite disturbing. I'm normally coveting other people's gems but I'll pass on that one. Have to admire the craftsmanship though.

 

Seller describes it as neoclassical 17th century. It is not neoclassical in style; I think they are correct that it is 17th or very early 18th, although I'm getting into territory where I barely know my way around. Engraved gems go in & out of fashion. They were everywhere during the Roman Imperial time. Medieval ones are rare & highly coveted by collectors with the money to buy them. The art declined & Renaissance pieces are sometimes not very well carved, even if they are in a lavish setting. They are still coveted because of their scarcity. Interest revived in the 18th century & some of the most amazing work comes from that time. (Check out the work of the Miseroni family & of Masnago.) The 18th also saw a rise in collector interest to a fever pitch that carried over into the 19th. Then we all know what happened in the time of Queen Victoria, when contemporary cameos became a pop phenomenon.

The disturbing scene on this one adds to its value, as it is not the sort of thing you see often (it's nagging at me to figure it out) & something I noticed when I looked at other photos of it is that it may be signed, in a cryptic way. In the 'exergue', the blank space below the 'groundline', there is some additional engraving that seems unrelated to the scene above it, not clearly visible in the photo above.



Sometimes this can be the device of the engraver. Age, rare subject, possible signature add up to a pricey piece. If it were not in damaged condition, the price would be much more. (It's in the neighborhood of 2,000, both GBP & USD.)

 

One of the results in an auction platform's alerts:

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

 

I just choked. Wasn’t expecting it.

 

Brilliant- raising money for the food bank. Hope it sells

 

i bought this in the early 70s. Don’t know anything about cameos I just liked it.

 

"set with intaglio concentric ring design," ---

 

Welcome, Gladys. Guessing you are having trouble uploading photos. Most newcomers do, if they take their photos with a phone. File size has to be under 1MB. The usual recommendation is to send the photo(s) to yourself, selecting medium for the file size, & then upload those files. We'll all be interested to see the cameo you bought so long ago now.

That's how it starts. In some of us it grows into I have to have that.

 

She has a sweet face. Was she pre-owned when you got her? I see she has British marks, is that where you are? She was hand cut in helmet shell in an Italian workshop & then exported for setting. Do you ever wear her?

 

@Gladys I can't quite see- Does that stamp say F.J.C.Y & Co ?. Can you make out the date letter at the end of the hallmark?

 

I recently bought a lot and this guy was in it .. he feels like glass (or shell ?), the black thing sounds like wood, but I can't figure it out what's he is set in (brown stuff).. and why ? Any ideas ?

I hope everyone is safe and healthy ! Stay home, if possible..

 

You're not makin' it easy, are you?

 

Sorry about that, it took me some time to understand where the problem is..

 

First, he's an excellent carving (can I add him to my Pinterest board for cameos of Victorian gentlemen?) It's hard to know what is going on here without being able to handle the piece. The black outer rim & back look like a typical pre-made jet frame. A shell cameo would then be glued in. Think your guy himself is the usual helmet shell, I just don't see anything that looks like a brown background shell layer. If I had him in hand, the first thing I would examine is the edge all around the figure where it meets the substrate. My best guess now is that the figure has had the background carefully chipped away from it & the isolated figure embedded in a layer of glue. A home repair job.

The most important feature of a cameo is the quality of the carving, so there's till a lot to like here.