Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I've handled my share of rocks too, and have to say I can't always tell from a picture. In hand yes, generally, because you can feel the difference.

 

What is the bit above the yellow line? Looks kind of like liquid that hasn't dried.

 

I found this cameo metal detecting. Can I get some info on it?
Year?
I know nothing about these and as crude as it is, it must have been beautiful in its day.

I am thinking it was worn as a collar brooch?

 

The engraver cut the figure down into the background layer, getting a bit more relief in the figure. I look for that when trying to determine if a piece is a single piece of stone or two pieces of glass.

 

Molded glass cameo in base metal setting. Without a photo of the back, very difficult to guess how it was worn. As shown, could have been a bracelet link. Sometime 1920s - 40s my best guess.

 

Here is a picture of the back. It looks like it was placed or crimped into the metal piece. The metal looks like a copper alloy.


I posted this earlier but for some reason it did not post. I apologize if there are 2 postings.

 

I see just the one. I know sometimes I think I have posted something, only to find I never hit the button to finalize it.

I see no indication this was ever attached to other parts that would have added up to a brooch. Perhaps one of our members who is knowledgeable about jewellery construction will weigh in with other ideas.

Where I see this sort of cameo used most often is in buttons for clothing. Again, this does not look like it ever had the right findings for a button, but, as you note, it is no longer complete as is. It strikes me that, since the metal element was stamped, the loops at either side could just as well have been closed, if, for example, the piece was meant to be sewn on as an ornament. Instead it has links, now bent.

Maybe @Hollyblue has some thoughts.

 

I'd guess it was attached to a hat or a dress or the like. The thread holding it onto whatever wore through, and bob's your uncle.

 

I'm also inclined to think it was used in that way. Usually metal would saw through thread, not the other way around. The more I look at it, the more I think we're seeing it as it was designed to be, with a little bending. If the garment or accessory had horizontal loops, which could be made with thread, you would be able to attach or remove it at will, similar to a hook & eye. Material would have to be pliable, not rigid.

 

This is similar, & set as a brooch:



http://www.ebay.com/itm/113497488814

 

I have a similar one, set in a bar pin. But that probably won't help with this question!

 

Lots of great responses on my post. Thank you.
Something I read on the internet about cameos, and please correct me if I am wrong, cameos with silhouettes that have “pudgy” type features for the nose, cheeks, and face as apposed to petite pointy features could dictate the age.
Portraits with strong, "Roman" noses are usually dated before the 1860s.
A nose that looks "cute" or button-like usually indicates a newer cameo created in the 21st century. If the nose is turned up and the features are flat, it could be a sign that the cameo is fairly modern and likely created with lasers, making it non-authentic.
Does this look like an authentic cameo or cheap cosmetic jewelry for its era?

 

What do you consider an 'authentic' cameo? This is an authentic, mass produced molded glass cameo, probably from the first half of the 20th century, in an authentic, inexpensive, mass produced setting.

If you go back to page 41 of this thread & look at post #804, you will see a cameo carved by hand in helmet shell, which is what I imagine you mean by authentic, & it is mounted in 14K, so not cheap. Nonetheless, the cameo itself is junk. Authentic & cheap are not the two ends of the same scale.

The fashion for cameos fell off as the Victorian era wound down. When it picked up again, in the 1920s & 30s, cutters began depicting women whose hairstyles were more contemporary & whose features increasingly departed from the neoclassical ideal of a beautiful, mature woman in favor of a more girlish look, particularly for the nose. By the 50s & 60s the noses looked like ski jumps, & the aesthetic has never changed back.

Hardstone cameos & intaglios are now cut ultrasonically:



Or using other modern engraving techniques:



Contemporary carvers of shell cameos have the benefit of power tools, but most of the work seems still to be done essentially by hand.

If you browse through this thread, you will see a wide variety of cameos, in natural & man made materials, better & worse in execution.

 

I just picked up George from the post office! Here are some quick photos taken while sitting in my car in the parking lot. The front of the cameo has a high sheen. Would that be due to polishing or would a coating have been put on it? The coloring of the shell is very uniform. I agree with Bronwen that this originally had some sort of flip back due to the small holes in the top and bottom of the setting. But it looks to have been adapted as a pin quite a long time ago. I’ve looked closely for a signature but apparently there is none to be found. Opinions welcome!

 

Need the eyes of members who can read Cyrillic: @Nick Georgia @Nadia G @avant @Figtree3 @Caribou's House

A new acquisition has writing on the back which I at first thought was a pseudo-inscription, one that looks antique but is actually nonsense. Then it struck me that it could be Cyrillic, & it began to make some sense. I had to guess in some places, particularly when it came to a character that looks like a Greek lambda, for which I substituted an 'l'.

This is my best shot at copying it over:

Президем / ИАХ / Алсж Никол / Оленинъ

And IM Translator's best shot at translating what it perceives to be Bulgarian:

Present / EAH / Alzhel Nicole / Olenin

Guessing the abbreviations & numbers below are birth & death, written year, month abbreviation & day. Bulgaria is now a hotbed of fake engraved gems, so could still be a hoax.

This guy defies efforts to photograph. A bit blurry, but he looks like this:



And the inscription looks like this:



The circled positions are where the 'lambda' character appears.

I'm handicapped by not having any knowledge of this family of languages, so can't make educated guesses where there are puzzles. Anyone care to enlighten me? Deepest gratitude in advance, & Happy New Year.

 

He's just as good as we hoped - congratulations on an excellent acquisition.

Polishing can make shell, if it is flat enough & color is right, look just like hardstone with a carnelian background layer. I've gotten shell cameo pieces back after jeweller has worked on the mount, only to find that, for safety's sake, he has coated the back with clear epoxy, but never the front.

Think it was always a brooch. What is different now is that the pin assembly has been repaired/replaced. Originally the findings would have been attached to the rim of the frame, so that when the pin stem was swung away, the compartment could swivel. It is that bar across the back that was added to provide a sturdier surface to attach everything.

Congratulations again!

 

Addendum: the bar replaces the encircling frame within which the main part originally swiveled.

 

Given the dates (name and general look), I think this is your guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Olenin

 

I think you've got it! Although the birth year is different. And there seems to be a difference in the day, too.

The first word on the back looks to me like it says Президент (President), missing the "t" at the end. But maybe not... still need to investigate that more. If it does say that, then perhaps the initials following that are indicating the organization?

 

You're getting downright scary, you know that?! You had more faith in the job I made of it so far than I did myself. It is undoubtedly he, a real Renaissance man: archeologist, military man, mint master, library director. Not too surprising there is a discrepancy in the date of birth. Uncertainty about life dates is common enough.

Next question is whether style of script & use of Old Style dates indicates the stone itself is old, or merely copied from another that was. It is only about an inch high; the nose is chipped & there are a couple of fine cracks running through the figure that do not break through to the back. He was probably in a ring at one time; size & nature of damage are characteristic.

I asked a friend to look at the inscription. She is a professor at the University of Milan. Her academic field is archeology & she can tell you all about ancient thin-walled pottery, but she also loves engraved gems, and has published a number of books & papers on the subject. She declared it nonsense & advised against buying it. For $10, did anyway.

Hi Fig, thanks for adding your knowledge.

Would the initials be consistent with Imperial Public Library?