Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I walk down that street every day as part of my exercise routine. So going there will be no problem. It will make them happy, as they have still a lot of merchandise.

 

Oh, well, if its on your way... Thanks.

 

For you anything.

 

[Blushing emoji] If you post photos of others here, we can all have fun picking out favorites, picking apart the duds.

 

Will do

 

Kudos for buying this BEAUTY! And so unusual scene for a cameo

 

Hello everyone!
This is my first post here. Could you please tell me, by the style of the carving, approximately what age is this cameo?
Thank you in advance!

 

Welcome, Fridolina. I can't tell from the style of carving because the carving follows a statue of Venus & is done the same way no matter when made. The setting tells me more about age. It would be useful to see the back for confirmation, but these frames with marcasites seem to have been popular in Italy in the 1950s.

 

Photos from the back

 

Yes, late 40s - 50s. She is much more nicely carved than many from that period. Do you ever wear her?

That 'ding' in the metal would be a mark for 800 silver.

 

Thank you Bronwen! I also thought that she is not too old but I wasn’t sure.
I just recently bought her so I haven’t had the chance to wear her yet, neither her “sister”...

 

They are beautifully carved Fridolina!

 

Thank you KSW!

 

You could wear them 'confronted', facing each other. They're in the same mount. How did you come to have 2 so much alike?

 

I got both from the same seller. That’s why I thought they couldn’t be too old.
Something else I find interesting is the way the pupils/irises are carved - like the “modern” statues. The ancient sculptures were coloured and didn’t need this device while the neoclassical followed but without the colour and look a bit “blind”.

 

On cameos, some have a drilled pupil & some don't. I never thought about it in relation to sculptural practices. Most of the time cameo cutters were copying from something, probably prints of art work or other cameos, but that doesn't mean they didn't add their own little touches. Sometimes, when the figure's position means both eyes are showing, they drill pupils & don't get them so they appear to be looking the same direction. It can make an otherwise well done piece look cockeyed.

This one always looks subtly off to me.

I'm starting to rethink those marcasite settings in conjunction with the quality of the cameos & am moving toward the 1930s. There's more care in them than became the norm after WWII.

 

There are more than 10 photos, so I'll do two posts. Don't gasp at the prices - the sale is 60% off those prices.

 

Post 2

 

Ooops Post 3

 

Only the Menelaus, the last one, is worth anything if the setting is a good one. The first is a very modern ultrasonically cut dyed blue agate piece, although a fancier one than most you see.