Featured DOYLES IS HAVING AN AUCTION 9/16/20 OF ABANDONED JEWELRY......

Some of it looks interesting and cool, and some isn't ALL that expensive.....some they've dumped into lots, some a bit pricey, yes, but then, I'm not buying, just looking....it's FREE that way!!! EYE CANDY!!!! Even a few Bzzz, Bzzz for Kyra!!!! But just posting a couple of images....although a bit beat up, love the colors in the lapel watch!!!
Nearly forgot...all viewable now:
https://bid.doyle.com/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/262/?page=1&items=48

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Doesn't that just make you want to cry? Abandoned safety deposit boxes. Lots of stories there.

Debora

 

In my collection, the cameo with the most lavish setting came from an auction of Texas unclaimed property. I wrote it up for Collectors Weekly:

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/225178-luigi-rosi-maenad-and-putto?in=696-liked-all-time

It came with an opulent chain that was described as broken but is not. It's funny now to occasionally run in to it on other people's Pinterest boards.



I suppose people don't really forget they own these things, although some who have too much for their own good might do, but they forget to properly document things & die without anyone having the info needed to round up all their assets.

 

Bronwen, has anyone ever asked you here, why cameos?

Debora

 

Why cameos what?

 

What attracted you to cameos as your central collecting interest?

Debora

 

They are beautiful, but so sad that they have been abandoned. Maybe that person had no one to hand them down too.

 

AND THAT is sad, in and of itself.........but I suppose someone, somewhere is going to be the last of the line.........

 

Picture a 5 year old spending every recess time picking out the prettiest bits from the fine gravel in the kindergarten playground, who thought it was immeasurable treasure when an aunt & uncle sent a collection of shells from their trip to Florida. When she was introduced to mythology, she immediately loved it.

For a number of years I collected kaleidoscopes. The heyday of artisan-made kaleidoscopes passed & really, how many can you spend time looking through?

When I went into my beading phase I suppose the stones & pearls satisfied my magpie attraction to colorful, shiny things. When my bead shop brought in boxwood ojime, Chinese knockoffs of Japanese designs, I got captivated by those. If I could afford genuine netsuke & ojime, and had the expertise to know genuine from fake, I would collect those.

I can't even remember how I got into collecting Zuni 'fetishes', but I got in big time sometime after the bead shop closed & my interest waned. Meanwhile, after seeing some very pretty jewellery that incorporated cameos, I started to see them in a new light, not just as grandmother wear, & kept my eyes open for one to buy. I found one in an antique store that was going out of business, a shell Ceres.

It wasn't until I signed up with eBay that I had the opportunity to browse thousands of cameos. Like most, my first acquisitions were of the pretty lady type in a modest price range. Once I broke out of those categories, I was hooked, intellectually as much as aesthetically. I wanted to learn how to recognize the mythological figures & scenes, inevitably picking up religious & allegorical ones along the way as well. I became interested in finding the sources of the images.

That's the long story. The short one is that cameos combine my loves: rocks, stones & other natural materials; mythology; small carved things; pretty things generally; old, unusual/unique things. They permit me to own little works of art signed by the author & can add interest to my otherwise plain wardrobe (when I have any reason to get dressed). They have led to contacts around the globe, some of whom have become friends. Occasionally there is the great satisfaction of finding the underlying art for cameo subjects that are misidentified everywhere else. (The V&A changed their description of a cameo based on information I provided.) They are satisfying on so many fronts - some even make me chuckle - how can I resist?

 

Thanks @Bronwen, that was a nice, neat and informative read!!! You started on a path, and didn't veer tooooo far from it!!!! VERY COOL!!!!

 

Libras are known for liking pretty things, but not for moderation.

 

Thank you Bronwen, I like you too.

 

Thank you, Bronwen, for both your response and being so generous with it. An absolutely fascinating backstory (as they say in Hollywood.) And congratulations on the V&A. A big -- and hugely satisfying -- accomplishment, I'm sure.

Debra

 

Working it out relieved my epistemic distress over why this cameo, given to the V&A by its maker, James Ronca, is identified as Psyche



when this painting



& the gem that made this impression



are both titled Iris. What is the 'correct' identity of a subject if an original work is named one thing but the artist copying from it names his work something else?

It was the appearance of the plaster impression on eBay that gave me the final link in the explanation of how the misidentification had occurred, in the days before the Internet, & enabled me to make a cogent argument for Iris instead of Psyche.

The entry may not have been changed completely because the original ID was made by someone at the British Museum who published a scholarly paper arguing for the cameo's being the lost Ronca Psyche mentioned in an exhibition catalogue, & who is still in her position at the Brit. The same catalogue lists another work by Ronca, The Rainbow, a subject he had done at least a couple of times before. If you remember your mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow.

 

Fascinating. I do see the V&A is using this language now: "It may represent Psyche, or perhaps Iris." And, in the world of scholarship (and institutions) that is no small thing.

Debora

 

I know they will also put in the file for the piece my correspondence with the curator that lays out the argument, including pictures, so the supporting documentation for the Iris ID is there.

This one, signed Filippo Vergé, is mine:



Wish this one were:



If you like opal, a quick visit to the search results for 'Wilhelm Schmidt cameo' will leave you gob smacked.

 

I didn't even know one could make cameos from opals.

Debora

 

The one above is more a piece of inlay work (pietra dolci?) but there are opal pieces carved in relief, as you see. These days any carved opal that can't be otherwise attributed, becomes 'possibly Wilhelm Schmidt'. It was his signature product.

 

Well what a lovely thread. Many thanks for sharing your lovely life story Bronwen. It brought back many happy memories.

My brother and I used to 'pan for gold' in the brook that ran through our camp-site on the Isle of Man.

I know very little about collectibles and antiques, which is why I joined this community in the first place. But what I'm getting most is a feeling of warmth and community.

I really enjoy reading the threads. I'm learning a lot too. I've got a set of pottery lined up in my local charity shop. It's old, and I don't care if it's worth anything or not, but I like it. I won't be able to resist looking it up though.

 

Welcome to the club, in both senses.