Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

This is why I asked you before I purchased. The Menelaus If set in gold worth $350 - not resale?

 

Batch #2

First one, forget it. Looks like jeweller was valuing by settings with no appreciation for the cameos themselves. Second one is a type seen a lot, already with the tiny turned up nose that became ubiquitous. I would not buy it but I can see someone might, for the right price. Third one, unh uh. Fourth is lava & would be nice if not so dirty. No guarantee it can be cleaned with changing color & making it spotty. Fifth one another no. Notice it is basically the same as Fridolina's Venuses. Venus + asp = Cleopatra.

 

It is if that mount is gold. And look at how solid all the findings are, particularly the way the pin stem is attached to the hinge. It's a quality piece. Guessing not very big?

 

No an inch or so

 

Looking at other examples of cameos, I see what you mean and I agree with you.

If we can trust this page, the hallmark 800 puts the age of the setting before 1934.
http://www.silvercollection.it/italianhallmarks.html

IMO that doesn’t confirm the age of the cameos. Not being a bezel the cameos could have been done later to size to use already available settings. Just a thought. Who knows...

 

It keeps coming back to me that in 100 years cameos like the blue one & the phantasmagorical creations coming out of Italy now will seem classic, if anyone is still collecting.

 

Hmm. If it's solid gold it's pretty good value for money. I do wonder what those areas that have photographed as red mean. Doesn't look gilt, but GF would not be good value either. Most important, would you like it enough if the price were agreeable? If you would not enjoy it, it's not worth anything. Don't buy for investment value.

 

I have a mystery, a vexing mystery. Today, looking for a cameo example of something, I came across a photo of a cameo I had forgotten I own. I had forgotten it because I have not seen it in a long time. I have cameos squirreled away in a few places & look through them from time to time, sometimes looking for a particular one. (They're all in boxes & I have a weak memory for what's in what box.) So, has anybody seen this guy? He's a great big thing.

 

I can drop by and ask. I don’t buy on a whim usually. I was surprised to see this piece amongst the others it really sticks out once you mentioned it has being particularly nice 350 is a chunk of change and not spent lightly. I will look at it more carefully and decide

 

It is a stunning cameo. Never seen one like it.

 

Wanted to post a couple more cameos from my collection. I have never been able to figure out the subject of this first one. There is no signature or marking on the back.

 

here is another. Based on the holes in the back, maybe it was originally a belt buckle?

 

I have these in my 'Cameos to Study' folder, meaning I don't know what they are. I call it Separated Lovers. One of these is mine (the one with the dog).



I have yet to come across the origin of this scene, clearly a displeased father dragging his young son away from a girl who is an unacceptable match. I don't think it comes from classical mythology. There's no such scene in Romeo & Juliet, which is what comes first to mind. There definitely has to be a primary image, probably a painting, behind it. Doubt the wider community can help with this one. Sorry. Your photo has joined the other two in my file. Love the detail of the boy's sandals on yours. Conch shell is such a great carving medium.

 

Probably Dieppe ivory work. I think belt buckle is a good guess, given the holes & the marks.

 

No, it doesn't confirm it, but I see no reason to think the cameos are not contemporary with the settings. The first one has had the edges ground down to turn a curved edge into a flat one that is easier to set.

 

This is good to know & I must try to remember it. My guess is that the new regulations were not universally adopted the day they went into effect, that there's a little wiggle room on dating 800 pieces. I can well imagine Neapolitan jewellery makers ignoring government decrees.

 

I really like yours with the dog. I am glad you have the same subject. Maybe one day we will figure it out. I think the hairstyles are interesting, as well as how the father holds his fingers. In all three they are the same.

 

Once upon a time, in all my poking around, I'm sure I read in some place I'll never find again, that some famous painter, one of the really famous ones, like Michelangelo or Raphael, figured out that it was easier to draw/paint a proper looking hand if you not only got the thumb out of sight but had the forefinger pointing. I think that's all that's at work here, no deep significance.

Mine is weird not only for having the dog but the girl is reaching back toward her swain. Since this is not the case on the other 2, have to think that the cutter got ambitious & added his own touch. Dog probably his own addition too. When Cupid is with a dog it symbolizes faithful love. Could be the idea here.

 

Thought of Pyramus & Thisbe. While also kept apart by their parents' hostility to one another, there's no scene like this in the tale.

 

I haven't seen him before, but it was love at first sight.