Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Our friend Charles Schmoll has come up in the world. This seller mainly handles very high end stuff. They are wrong about it having anything to do with Amalthea & the goat who suckled the infant Zeus; it's 3 lively putti riding a goat & rolling a wine cask ahead of them, ready to party.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/372502338943




This is the Sll variant of Schmoll's signature.

 

She's lovely!
Is that an opal?

 

Thank you. She's very dramatic. Yes, a tiny opal. I don't know if I'll ever get an answer, but sent an inquiry to the jewellery department of the Bezalel Academy to ask if there is any record of who produced this design.

In reading about the early years of the Bezalel School, was interested to see that there was a department of ivory & amulets. Not 2 things I think of as naturally going together. Think it was just that they had a guy with those interests who cut cameos in ivory.

 

Cameo beauty of the day:
(As usual, waaaay out of my price range!)

 

She is lovely. Cutter got a little out of hand with the draped skin. It's supposed to be panther, not lion. After all, she's not a follower of Hercules.

Sometimes it can be difficult to tell the boys from the girls at these revels:

 

Some gambles don't pay off. I had hoped this cameo would clean up better than she did, but not completely disappointed. She was part of an auction lot that included a strand of pearls I assumed, wrongly, were artificial. Cameo is just over an inch tall, about 25mm.



She has been just impossible to photograph well. Even if I were a much better photographer, it would not be possible to capture completely the color of the stone. The background layer is a nearly colorless translucent chalcedony. Anything behind it shows through, including the metal bar across the back that holds the pin findings, which is what creates the effect of a darker lower part. She is probably pre-Victorian.

Plan on wearing the pearls at every opportunity. Type of clasp says they have a little age on them.

 

She’s beautiful and looks to have cleaned up very nicely!. Piccy of pearls too please?.

 

The white pearls are matched rather than graduated, knotted, that classic debutante collar bone length. They are quite gritty to the teeth & once you start examining closely you find that some have surface irregularities. They have stretched out on one side of the safety clasp. The sort of thing you wear with your twin set, but I'm going to wear them to the Zoo tomorrow (Monday). Will need natural light to photograph; may have to wait for Tuesday.

As for the cameo, I do like the blush effect of the pink in the stone, most prominent on her right breast. I was hoping the face would be executed less perfunctorily. I've noticed that the majority of skilled cameo engravers either do faces well without paying much attention to the hair, or the other way around, & do not take much care with the rest of the bust. This engraver did an excellent job with the shoulder, breast & neck, fairly well with the hair, but face could be done by an advanced apprentice (maybe it was). The greats take care with every detail. I can't afford the greats.

She's a heavy little thing & rather nice in the hand. Only a C clasp, but tight enough that she could be worn safely. Came with a guard chain, which I had to reattach. For some reason it was off when the lot arrived.

There is also a very fine chain with clasp auctioneer described as a 9ct bracelet. It is nearly large enough to go around an ankle; I can't keep it from sliding off. And a St. Christopher pendant I think is gilt base metal. Offered it to my very Catholic Haitian downstairs neighbor & her niece. They both looked at a loss & asked, Who's St. Christopher? Explaining did not help.

 

He probably wasn't a big deal in Haiti the way he was in Europe. That little cameo definitely got to the right home. I'd end up restringing the pearls. It's not hard if you have one of the prestrung needles handy ... and can see what you're doing.

 

Your wish...



And the rejected St. Christopher. He's actually quite nice in his own way, double sided.



The white paper he's on photographed weirdly. There is open space around him.

 

I'm hesitant because I would not be able to attach the ends to the clasp in a way I like as much as I do as is. I do worry they'll snap at the clasp & a pearl will be lost, unless I can find it again. Wore them to the Zoo today nonetheless.

Between my less than perfect eyes & my variably shaky hands, something I used to love to do, threading & knotting, is now sometimes very challenging if the holes in the beads are very small. The pearls would probably not be too bad. If I find I already have some suitable bead cord, I may give it a go. This has also frayed at some knots; looks like they are on cotton. I would put them on silk. I do have French wire, although not sure it is as fine as what is there now.

 

I think it's just as well you didn't give St Chris away; I think I'm seeing a 375 mark on the back! Darned thing is 9K if I'm seeing it correctly.

 

The other gold bits & bobs were represented as 9K, but Chris does not look it &, when I tested, he is slightly magnetic. There is something written on the back, maker's name I think, but I have not been able to read it, even with a loupe.

 

I'd have him tested, just in case. I've had a few bits of low-carat gold stick to magnets before.

 

I was going to say that there are places where the gold has worn away & white metal shows through, but on closer inspection, those places seem to be reflections.

Doubt the jeweller that tested things for me has reopened. I have one of those kits, have had it so long the acid is probably all kaput, even though never opened. Never got up the nerve. As I think about it, if it is 9ct, jeweller might proclaim not gold. Recently read that 9K is not recognized as gold in the US. For now, Chris will have to remain a tease.

 

Pawn shops aren't so picky. (LOL) If it's 9K the 10K acid won't read it properly but might give you some idea.

 

Wonder if pawn shops are considered essential at this time. Seems to me they are.

 

They're open where I live, with restrictions. I melted some scrap in mine not long ago.

 

I picked up a cameo brooch today as part of a job lot, its set in 925, it's not particularly unusual, and the clasp on the back indicates its not too old either, but id be interested to know if its genuine shell and hand carved? Many thanks

 

Yes (helmet shell) & yes (unknown). Neighborhood of mid-1950s - early 60s.