Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Thanks Bronwen- The universe of forgeries is like 'The Matrix'.

 

It became a big problem in the period late 18th - early 19th centuries when collecting 'antique' (what we call as being from antiquity) intagios became a passion among the wealthy & scholars, with signed gems being the most coveted of all. Forgers put names onto gems that were genuinely old as well as on gems that were finished the day before. It got to a point where a buyer could not be sure a gem was being represented honestly & accurately by the seller, & the bottom fell out of the market. The Poniatowski gems really put an end to it.

If you haven't found it yet, another rabbit hole to fall through:

Eyes Have It: Are These Intaglios the Same?

 

Thanks both for clarifying. I thought that a fake Rosi was posted. I have a couple cameos by Rosi myself. One is signed on both front and back. The cameo with writing only on the back is quite small but beautifully carved and includes Rosi's address as many of his do.

 

I just wanted to share a couple of my other ladies

 

Flora & Diana, as I'm sure you know. Newer, but pretty. Do you wear them?

 

Yes I do ! I try to wear them all

 

I found another dirty lady. I believe its conch shell and the setting is silver. What I like about it is the hairstyle, I find it unusual but pretty. It also reminds me of the 80s somehow

 

Yep, conch shell. Should clean up well. Feel I've seen her before but can't put an ID to her. She reminds me of the figure of Liberty on so-called 'capped bust' coins, without the Phryigian cap:



Given the unusual round shape of the cameo, would not surprise me if the inspiration was a coin.

Nice find!

 

Oh yes that looks very similar! I don't know, but when I find a cameo I like, I usually find a couple more. They never show up alone

 

That's a nice one!

 

Yes!
Unfortunately, the seller is unresponsive and seems to not want to ship it out, so I am not getting too attached.

 

Now I am just looking for cameos that I can clean up and make look pretty

 

You could do worse.

 

Thought I should pop one of mine in here, it's kind of annoying to me in a way as the mount is spectacular but the cameo is less so. The mount is 22ct gold with platinum facings, seed pearls, diamonds and pink sapphires, cameo about 2''. There is about £700 of gold at scrap price in it. Keep wondering whether to try and find a top notch cameo to replace the existing one.

 

That setting rocks. The cameo carver... more like rocks in the head.

 

I never understand things like this. Think it just supports my contention that most jewellers to day know little to nothing about cameos, & this one thought this was a really good cameo because it was large & different from the standard pretty lady.

If the cameo is bezel set, it would be difficult to find another to fit & get it installed safely.

 

It is tab set, so should be relatively simple to replace if one of the same size can be found. The mount looks to be 20's or 30's, I guess it's possible it had a better one originally which was swapped due to damage, although it does fit perfectly.

 

I've seen it the other way around too, where the mount is really bad but the cameo it holds is amazing.

Yours is really pretty though!

 

@Bronwen Another gentleman for your cameo board and a signature you may not have:


The very nice description is from the auction site, although to me it looks like a shell cameo, not an agate cameo. Agate carved. Oval, very finely cut portrait of the Crown Prince and later King Maximilian II Joseph of Bavaria, looking to the right. The portrait whitish on a smooth agate background, signed below the representation "C. VOIGT". Works by Carl Voigt are rare. Note 1:Carl Friedrich Voigt was born in Berlin in 1800, began an apprenticeship with the engraver Vollgold and continued his education in drawing in the evening. After his time at Vollgold, he went to the Royal Mint in Berlin and learned die cutting under Daniel Friedrich Loos. Here he also cut the relief portrait in ivory of King Frederick William III. Already at the age of 19 he was appointed First Medalist of the Prussian Royal Mint. At the age of 25 he moved to London, for which he received a scholarship that had been awarded to him because of his special achievements in modeling. There he cut the much admired stamp for a medal of Lord Elton. From London he went via Paris and Milan to Rome, where he was trained in stone cutting with Girometti. Here he married the miniature painter Teresa Fioroni. In Rome in 1829 he was visited by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who appreciated his work so much that he appointed him as first coin medalist at the Royal Mint in Munich. Here he created taler pieces on behalf of the king for special events during the reign of the king and worked from 1832 also for King Otto of Greece. Voigt's work was greatly influenced by Thorwaldsen, with whom he was associated for life. Many of the small German states had the dies for their coins cut by Voigt. In addition, he performed numerous commemorative medals, especially on the art activity of King Ludwig I, but also on Thorwaldsen, Rauch, Cornelius, Kaulbach and Herzo