Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Opera or Museum? Closest thing to an antiques mall is this place:
https://the-maac.com/

 

It must be the guarantee that this is A REAL AUCTION! that is driving the price on this cameo of Zachary Taylor:



From $0.99 to $2,900 in 21 hours, most of a week left to go. Maybe determined high bidder lost out on this one, which was listed not long ago:

 

Museum! Thanks for the link to the maac, I bookmarked it

 

Just came across this outfit:

https://www.eredijovon.com/en/cms/2/cameo-portrait-photo-customized

 

Kyra, have a W O N D E R F U L TIME in NYC!!!!!!

 

I spent quite a bit of time looking over that website already. I must admit that I was not impressed with his work.

 

Nor I. But I'm afraid it may not be any worse than many would produce. I don't know how you audition a cameist. Ideally they could show you at least several pairs of photos of the person with a photo of the cameo made from it. The Italian sensibility seems to have changed from what it was at its best in the 19th century & earlier, less classical & more pop.

 

Thanks Aqui!

 

@Bronwen Here is Lady Fall, cleaned, dried and a light insect wax (solid white stuff Chinese use on jade, looks like paraffin) brushing

 

Hi,
What a beautiful cameo. Wonderful carving!!!!!
greg

 

NICE! It couldn't be sold here, unless you hit a clueless dealer who at least officially doensn't know what it is.

 

That makes her quite unusual. Grapes & grapevine, all the time. Acorns & oak leaves, have not seen much, if at all. The oak is proper to Zeus; sometimes instead of a laurel wreath he wears one of oak leaves. He doesn't have female followers like the maenads of Dionysus. Think carver was making a variant of the ubiquitous bacchantes. She looks ready for Walpurgisnacht!

I did not get notice of this tag in either my e-mail or my alerts on the site.

 

I wouldn't mind having this one:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...aign=auction-alert&utm_content=lot-image-link

 

If you're not finding anyone who works shell in Italy, you might look into stone from Germany. Idar-Oberstein is the major center of the industry. The only person there I know anything about is Gerhard Schmidt: http://www.gerhard-schmidt-art.de/
Not sure he takes commissions for portraits, but might know someone who does. He was very polite about responding to a question I had about a cameo.

 

she is beautiful and looks so much better cleaned up

 

@Bronwen My 82-year-old mother passes on a few bits of jewelry to me every few months. When I visited yesterday, she gave me this Carnelian shell cameo. She stated that her sister-in-law, my aunt, gave it to her 20 or 30 years ago. My aunt was known for picking up bits and pieces here and there at charity shops, etc. We have no idea if the box it is in is original. The box states it is rolled gold however “silver“ is marked on the back. I suppose that could be mean that the base metal of the rolled gold is silver. I haven’t been able to find out very much about Sharmaine jewelry. The few other brooches I have come across have all been marked Sarmaine Paris and had trumpet-style clasps, this does not have a makers mark and the clasp is entirely different. Age estimates, info about Sharmaine, etc. are appreciated!

EDIT: My aunt lived in England, which is also where my mother was born/raised.

 

Hi, sweet piece! Bronwen will be along and will give you lots of information, but I can tell you one thing, carnelian is a semi precious stone - shell is shell. Your piece looks like carved shell to me, but like I said, Bronwen will be along to help

 

Bronwen got pulled away for a while. Carnelian/cornelian is a name for the red-orange shades of translucent chalcedony, but because of the color similarity, 'carnelian shell' is used as a casual term for some helmet shell, just as the browner varieties are sometimes called 'sardonyx shell'. (Or, by some sellers with a wry sense of humor, 'sardonic shell.') It is also known as 'cameo shell.'

I am not familiar with the jeweller whose name is on the box. @kyratango might be a good person to ask about that. But strongly doubt the box is original to the cameo.

The lady is at bottom a common type. What sets her apart in my eyes is her own jewellery, which has a very bohemian (as in beatnik) feel to me. No simple subdued strand of pearls with matching drop earrings for this girl, she has a more gypsy-ish vibe, making me want to place her to the late 50s/early 60s. (The fashion of cameo beauties tends to lag behind the times.)

What really makes her special is of course the personal connection. Even if your aunt picked it up in her own thrifiting, it is still a reflection of her taste & a nice kind of memento to have, no?

 

Thanks!
I'm aware that shell is not actually Carnelian. But Carnelian is a generally accepted and often used term for this color of shell cameo.

 

@Bronwen
It was the jewelry on the figure that caught my eye, too. Other than that, it's not a very exciting carving but yes, it's nice to have a family collectible!