Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I wouldn't have asked first.(LOL)

 

My instinct would have been to toss the cameo.

But I would have overthought it and made myself mad.

Easier to just come here and ask.

 

I wouldn't have thrown her out, just given her a divorce. Maybe the piece is a marriage anyway. The original shell cameo may well have been destroyed somehow and the person had this glass bit hanging around and threw it into the setting.

 

You know, I actually thought it was a brass mount deceptively marked, but there are a number of these "14K UJ" out there.

 

With my blessing.

 

Not impossible, of course, but went back to look & all those little prongs, which would allow replacement of whatever they're holding (wouldn't have to be a cameo), look completely undisturbed.



It boggles my mind, but think for many jewellers a cameo is a cameo is... Think how many ghastly shell cameos we see housed in 14K.

And a cameo that was very cheap to buy wholesale, if it fools the customer into thinking it's turquoise, is so very good for the bottom line.

 

Looks like the stone is glued in,there's no inward bend to the gallery wire to hold the stone into the setting.

 

Ah, another thing to look for when evaluating a piece of cameo jewellery. Since most of the time photos are what I really have to go on, knowing this sort of thing is very useful - thanks.

 

Now, can you give me a jeweller's insight into why anyone would make such a thing?

 

No idea why ... from what I can see in the photo the piece appears to be cast and not fabricated as you would expect on a piece of gold jewelry.The stone does not look like it belongs in the setting.

 

Other than the mismatch in quality, what are you seeing that leads to that conclusion? Another thing to learn.

 

The "beveled" edge of the stone does not appear to tilt inward toward the top of the stone and the bottom of the stone looks like it is sitting too high in the setting for the gallery wire to hold the stone in place. The wire needs to be pressed toward the top of the stone like a regular solid bezel does.

 

Thanks. Actually, that rounded outer rim is another feature pointing to glass, if it were not so evident from the subject. You said earlier that, because the prongs really stick straight up, cameo must be glued in. Wouldn't that be easier/cheaper than doing it the 'real' way?

I'm inclined to think the piece is now as it was originally made. I've seen too many other 14K mounts with cameos in man made material or shell abominations to think this is an anomaly.

 

Well, it's mine now. Has to travel from UK to US, so won't have it in hand for a bit. A gamble, seller represented it as:
GOLD PLATED Double Face Faux Cameo Ring

but from photos I thought there was enough of a chance that it's actually hardstone to throw in a bid. Listing photos not the best; this one has been doctored:



Until she arrives, anyone want to place a bet, glass or stone?

 

It's got that liquidy "ridge" that, if I recall correctly, is a sign of hardstone.

Plus, you think it's hardstone, so I'm going with hardstone.

 

Double face? I see 3 faces - left facing, right facing and one on the top of the head.

 

I have made this gamble before & not always been right, so we'll see. The photo posted doesn't capture very well what I see about it that makes me think (hope) stone. There are places, most notably the delineation between her forehead & her helmet, where the white is so thin, the black shows through. This is a delicate thing to do with a molded glass figure. Also, although I have seen this image before, I have never seen it in glass. There is one point that is more consistent with glass than with stone, the way the white bust goes right to the edge of the black table on the right. This may mean the figure did not end up affixed where it was supposed to be. I did not pay so much that it will upset me if it turns out to be glass, because I appreciate well done glass cameos too.

 

Yes, seller gave the piece - it's a ring - rather short shrift. It is Athena; she has a satyr both on the visor of her helmet & conjoined behind her in what is called a 'janate' (like the god Janus) composition. I need to do a little searching in the Tassie collection of impressions of engraved gems to see if I can find out more about the origin of this image. Another reason I will not be devastated if the cameo turns out to be glass is that I like this composition & do not have any other example in my collection.

 

Word to the wise, this is worth taking a look at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/
273785493938

This is not a buy recommendation, but another one where it is instructive to look at the listing title & then at the photos;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/293028196708

 

That's what I was calling the "liquidy ridge." To me it looks like the white part is glued to the black part, but an excess of glue squished out. Which doesn't sound flattering at all, so I went with liquidy.