Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I have this one in hardstone, mounted, appropriately, in a watch pin:

 

I didn't see them; don't trawl eBay the way I once did, knowing I need to deaccession, not acquire. Do notice that this one has what looks to me like ELLIS at the truncation:

 

I saw them and the price was too obscene hah so I just collected the photos. I loved the seller noting they collected them as souvenirs.

 

I just got up at 4am as my "morning" so I understand the disordered sleep. If I don't have something that forces regulation...like going to work... Then my body slowly, but surely, works it around so only night will do. It's a constant, annoying struggle. Been that way my whole life. It does come in handy when our shoot days become nights and everyone else on the crew is tired and I am fully alert lol.

The dormouse is adorable. I can't imagine why you haven't come across a bigger version because that is a great image.

Deaccession would be a major undertaking!! With your website it might be easier to make your own shop and skip the Bay headache. I use Storenvy...no fees for the store and I believe no, or reduced fees when you make a sale through your site instead of their marketplace.

 

I'm a hospital night-shift worker so I haven't even gone to bed yet... (it's 4:30am where I am).
What do you do for a living? Photography? Film? Sounds interesting!

 

YAYYY! Thank you for sharing. As we discussed, I have some affection for these American carvers. He is lovely, but that is frustrating that he is not listed. Looks like a 4 to me too. Did the author say how he compiled his list? Was it from records Kinney kept? Does the author have a collection of the cameos as well? He should join us here hahaha.

I will definitely contact him about the book. It sounds extremely interesting, even though I don't own any (yet). I bet you made his year calling about his research and adding to it! What a nice conversation that must have been.

 

Ah we are on the same coast! I work in film. I've done different jobs, but currently I work in props. Those are the people that handle all the items actors hold/interact with (not counting cars, set, costume...ish) on screen. The last two I've done were horror so plenty of night shoots and buckets of blood and body bits. Interesting is the word! There was a social media prompt going around that said "Tell us something about you that sounds like a lie." and that's pretty much my every working day. I bet you have just as many strange tales in your working day...but I have NDA and you have HIPPA lol.

 

I worked props, and later was an assistant stage manager, for a few productions during my university days. I remember the horror of a missing prop during Romeo and Juliet!

 

I emailed this morning and he responded right back to offer me a copy. Very excited! Thank you @PepperAnna !

 

In much sadder news, the Boston MFA images dept wanted a $50 fee to give me a jpg of the only photo they have of their JC King cameos, which is (according to them) very old (aka black and white) and in a group. I'm assuming only the front. That's if they could find the hard copy to scan. I wrote back to clarify the fee, and to turn them down, hoping the museum would some day add images to their online collection. I thanked the lady for looking into it.

Got back a response that scanning the image takes work (idk $50 seems like a good gig to me...except they just tried to form a union so I'm guessing the scanning person doesn't get that $50). Also told me they were strictly forbidden from giving any "large scale" digital images at discount or for gratis. Which....I did not ask for? Felt unnecessarily harsh lol. I get that I'm a Poor and not a Donor geez guys.

Lesson learned: I will not be finding the excited curators, happy to geek out about cameos, at the ritzy BMFA. It's fine, I'll make a donation to the Worchester Museum instead.

Oh. And here's an image of the Horace Greely which I found in a very old article actually attributed to BMFA. Y'all can have this one free on me.

 

That's wonderful. Bill is the Executive Director of the Worcester Historical Museum. His interests don't include cameos, per se, but info about BH Kinney is his life's work and he tried to collect as much info as possible about him. Some of the cameos shown in the book are owned by the Worcester Historical Museum, others are private. There are maybe 8 cameos shown in the book. The pics aren't the best, but the book is almost 40 years old!

 

yes a bit harsh...but just maybe they are overwhelmed for free images...??

 

Or it's one guy in a whole department, already underpaid and overworked, who really doesn't have time for extras.

 

I had already declined and had not once mentioned a discount or free work. It was a weird email to get. I very politely replied that there had been a misunderstanding, that I had not requested a freebie, I understood the museum was not a public institution and the fee structure is not a personal decision, thanked them for their time again and wished them a lovely weekend.

They answered my email within 5 mins of filling out the contact form, so I'm guessing there's no backlog. I doubt there's only one person in that department, especially when it's a money-producing one at one of the largest museums, but hopefully their new union will address any inequities if that were the case.

Note they list getting a print of a an image mailed to you is $25+shipping, so I was not expecting the fee to be $50 for a web jpg lol.

 

They sound uncertain about where the item you want is, so maybe they're factoring in staff time spent locating it? They are probably so accustomed to people trying to bargain with them over this service, they just assumed that's what you were doing.

 

In response to the suggestion of @Bronwen to see both new acquisitions and golden oldies, here is one of mine, a 2023 acquisition of a signed Pio Siotto cameo of unknown gentleman. The carving is exquisite and the frame is stunning, but marred by the clumsy addition of a pin and a bail. The signature is somewhat faint, but very readable.




I'll post a few others later.

 

I bought this tiny hardstone cameo and had it set as a ring for my daughter's birthday. The jeweler designed a custom band with opals, my daughter's favorite stone. Very happy with the outcome and my daughter loves it.

 

Ring is delightful. Is she a Capricorn?

 

My Siottos are not set anywhere near as nicely, but leaving a white edge seems to be a signature move.



First one has a memento compartment. Have never looked into S.B. & S.

 

were these commissioned by actual men wanting a bust for posterity?