Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

She's arrived and despite the metalwork she's lovely. It is signed but I can only see SL for sure and then possibly an I? and another letter I can't quite get focus on. Dirt is ingrained into the signature which makes it more visible but I'll try with a better loupe later. Does SL give any clues or just narrow it down to about 1000 cutters?!.

 

I have to see it. The way the letters are formed is as much of a clue as the specific letter. Could this be another 'Silz'?

 

Anything like this?

 

I’ll try to get some photos but it’s hidden under the back. I’ll be back.

 

Can’t get a photo so I’ve drawn what I can see. I don’t think there are any more letters hidden.

 

Like this, no? It's the second most common way Charles Schmoll signed. Looks like 'Sel' but think it's really 'Sll' & some examples do look more like that. Compare the S in both versions.

 

Yes!.Thats it!. Ooh how exciting to possibly know who carved it. Do you have much information about him?.

 

Start reading just above here:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/cameo-signature-help-needed.38228/page-2#post-634120

 

Charles lived to the age of 87 & seems to have been a respected member of the Parisian Jewish community. The exposition medal with which he garnished his directory listing seems in fact to have been won by a brother who did small bronzes & had his workplace at a different number on the same street. Charles' cameos were not award winning.

 

That's great, Thankyou. Is it possible to know from the subject matter or quality of carving if they are earlier or later in the 19thC?. Do you have photos of any other examples other than in that thread?. Don't go to any trouble unless they are immediately to hand. A google doesn't bring up many examples.

 

Schmoll was active in the second half of the 19th century. Wish I could attach a Word doc but not allowed. I have one with 48 photos of Schmoll's work, loosely arranged with similar subjects together. It does not include all the pix I have. He did a lot of bacchantes & similar looking Flora types but tried his hand at all sorts of subjects, including multi-figure scenes. From the level of skill, I would have to guess yours is earlier work, so mid-19th.

 

@Bronwen, if you make a PDF of the Word file maybe you can attach that?

 

Thankyou

 

Excellent thought. Will try & hope file not too large.

 

Too large.

 

BUMMER!!!!!

 

Since this signature had gone completely unnoticed until I started to collect examples, & completely undeciphered until @Jivvy (we miss you!) noodled it out & the 2 of us found what documentation we could, & completely unpublished until it appeared here in the forum, I was curious to see what you could find on the Internet that wasn't from here. Was it this Swiss Instagram poster?

https://www.picuki.com/tag/cameocollection

Her Schmoll posts are all from the last month or two. I have no doubt that everything she knows, she learned here, & her observations about the development of Schmoll's skill are not original. Well, if anyone is led to Google for more Schmoll cameos based on her posts, they will end up here.

 

Apart from an eBay listing which quotes Cameo Times (Is that you?), Ebay number
164107786161, all I could find are those Instagram photos.

 

I couldn't find that as an item number on eBay. Also, when clicking the link that was created, it's trying to find a telephone number on this site... And comes up as an error message. FYI!

 

Ditto.

Uh huh.