Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Welcome Willcpfc. She is very pretty; by convention generally considered to be the goddess Flora. Italian lava & shows signs of being a molded piece with hand carved finishing touches. The hoop earrings tell me the design was done in the early 20th century, but if she was molded, as I think, she could be later. It is difficult to date without the clues a setting would provide.

 

Exactly. I rather like glass cameos that are not the ubiquitous Czech ones. And there's nothing like buying one by mistake to keep you from making that mistake again. The way her right torso & arm and billowing scarf are all a continuous piece is a major clue that piece is not carved.

 

I have found another cameo from my little selection of bits and pieces.

Hope you like her.

 

A really beautiful Night (I'm envious) in desperate need of a bath. A soak in water with a little dish soap followed by a good go with a soft toothbrush & she would be luminous.

 

AND, PLEASE!!!, would you RE-POST when she’s had her bath!!!??? @Bronwen, does she have a bit of Bynes? (Small touch on the lower right front too!) Also, YES, I too think she’s LOVELY!!!!

 

No, I don't think so. It's not uncommon to have a whitish area on the back. It's just a bit of the next white layer. If it is Byne's the wash & brush will take the white off.

 

Like her?! Love her! I, too, am envious. She will be stunning once she is cleaned up.

 

Thank you for the replies and advice.
She has had a quick wash - probably the first for decades. I also have done a backlit shot.

 

Beautiful!

 

LOVELY! It's amazing how dirty they become over time and how much better they look once cleaned up

 

I love this thread. I only picked up a small gold-filled pendant lately, but no new lovely ones like you all are showing. I will share some past finds if you don't mind....this is my favorite cameo of all, just a pendant (I don't like pendant/brooch combos because they stick me). I like to think of her as Venus.

I love this one of Diana

Intaglio bloodstone watch fob converted to a pendant, yard sale find 25 cents

$4 gold-filled find

Sold as costume Victorian base metal

Antique show splurge, 14k

 

Thanks again.

I have found she is titled The Allegory of the Night. Would it be possible to date this example?

I have seen others 1850 -1890 while scouting on the "net".

 

Browen, are intaglios considered cameos?

 

Amazing examples!

 

BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

 

Thanks. I have an extensive collection.... my mom gave me a cameo ring when I was a little girl, and my love of them started then.

Another question: can cameos be any material, like metal examples?

Glass


Lava in sterling

Sterling ring


Costume setting

 

This is gorgeous. I love the setting!

 

I don't blame you for collecting these. Works of art in miniature. I should imagine they are very hard to counterfeit given the materials and skills involved which is a bonus.

 

No, they are both considered engraved gems & both are of interest to glyptics scholars, as are impressions taken of engraved gems in plaster, wax, etc.

 

Yes, any small relief could be considered a cameo, no matter the material. When people ask, Is it a real cameo?, they usually mean Is it really carved shell? As we all know here, there are other natural materials used for cameos, such as coral & lava, as well as man made materials like Celluloid and glass. No reason to exclude metal.