Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I put these things up as eye training for all y'all.

None of the little failings of a hand cut piece, such as a slightly too pointy chin. The soft lines with no undercutting. The high degree of opacity. The place that does look a bit like that 'aura' we have talked about I think is reflection of the edge of the figure. More subtle, perhaps not even there, is the look of several tiny nibbles in the white, right where her hair ends on her right shoulder, the kind of damage a separate glass figure is vulnerable to.

As with the Athena ring, I can't say I'm absolutely certain, only that there are enough warning signs that I would steer clear & find something else to buy.

 

There's a bit of the same type of grunge in her grain stalks. Demeter/Ceres, BTW.

https://cameotimes.com/index.php/profiles-1/olympian-gods/ceres-demeter

 

And I love them!

I see what you're saying that the "aura" could actually be reflection. In the image below, A and B totally look like the aura to me and C looks like a reflection... and realizing that, A and B start to look suspiciously reflection-like. And then not.



If I ever see a cameo in the wild, it will be fun to examine.

 

You've been doing a good job of developing your eye. Actually being able to handle a piece can give a few more clues. However, seems like better cameos rarely turn up at thrifts or charity sales, so learning the visual cues is essential for going hunting on line.

 

Nothing shows up at thrifts or charity sales around here. Not even estates sales are worth a blink.

But there are a few actual Ye Olde Antique Shoppes. And I keep on the lookout there.

So far, squat diddly.

 

Suspect the place to look for someone seriously dealing in cameos these days, other than estate sales in places people go to retire, like Florida & Arizona, is pawn shops.

 

I no longer live in the part of Florida where people go to retire.

Moved away because of all the retirees.

I now live in the part of Florida that is Damn-Near-Georgia. We have pawn shops, but ... well, I'll leave it there and say no more.

 

If you're looking for guns and tools, you're in the right place? Especially two-legged tools?

I don't see a lot of good cameos here. Some really bad ones sometimes, but the good ones are rare. I did score a cameo in a 14k setting, but the cameo itself is probably glass and it's brand stinkin' new. OTOH it was dirt cheap and my sister will like it.

 

Good cameos fetch up sometimes where you wouldn't expect. The one I use as my avatar was no longer wanted in Idaho. The little cameo of Alexei Olenin that got so much space here came from Hawaii. Another signed piece came from a church charity shop in far northern Scotland, a step away from the Orkneys.

 

So you've been here.

 

No need; I can guess!

 

@Bronwen as promised, here are the updated pics you can use on your pinterest or site

Very deep carving, 1/2" (1.25cm) from highest point to the base!

 

WOW!!!!!

 

WOW WOWWW!

Nice pics, really shows of the fabulousness of the pieces!

 

Thanks! As the seller described only height and width, I was surprised by the weight and the thickness of my popes!

 

Fabulous photos! I'm going to save at least one of them to my folder where I keep the examples of ivory I draw on every time we get into a resin/ivory debate in a thread.

Just spent more time trying to figure out who they are. The relatively short, very well groomed beards I think indicate they are more modern than the earliest saints of the Russian church. The patriarch who looks ('look' mostly meaning similar beard & mustache) most like the guy without a halo is Alexei II, who is too recent to appear on one of these plaques.

Despite the lack of a halo/nimbus, he is in a pose holding the Bible, that seems to be standard for saints rather than for patriarchs, who hold the staff/crozier of their position.

If I ever identify, it is more likely to be by luck than effort. Would have liked to be more specific when pinning them for the world to see, but they're just too excellent to withhold.

Just fabulous!

 

Thanks for your hair explanations Bronwen
I can consider I got a bargain at 100€ for the pair Surely because a bearded patriarch is less appealing than a semi naked lady

 

I have got some of the things in my collection at bargain prices I'm sure because they're not 'pretty'. Do you think the shop tags indicate a price of 80 francs at some time? Did you buy from French seller?

This is Alexei II, unusually for portraits of modern patriarchs, wearing only one pendant around his neck:

 

I took a picture of the one cameo I saw today in my travels.

Do you want it for your Pinterest board?

KIDDING. I believe it's plastic on glass. Or plastic on shiny plastic. I just took the picture because we were talking about seeing cameos in the wild and this is the thing I find.

Says something that for a split second I was excited.

 

(But it's not Ponytail Girl, so there's that)