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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 3050071, member: 5833&quot;]It&#039;s a nice piece &amp; does appear to be hardstone, but too much money.&nbsp; If you&#039;re going to spend that much, you do need to consider whether you will be able to resell it someday without taking a big loss.&nbsp; Since there is no mount, value is entirely in the cameo.&nbsp; No matter how well done, the market for portraits of other people&#039;s husbands is not large unless the piece is signed.&nbsp; Is this being sold on line?&nbsp; Are there other photos, including the back?&nbsp; Sellers often miss signatures, even when they show in their own photos.&nbsp; You don&#039;t want to ask because if it is signed they will then presumably raise the price.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have a handful of male portraits.&nbsp; Well, maybe a few more than a handful, but they are all shell &amp; I only bought ones that were cheap, exceptionally good or signed.&nbsp; I have 5 that are signed by known engravers: Tommaso Saulini; Filippo Tignani; 2 by Pio Siotto; Paolo Neri or workshop of.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Portraits of non-famous women are much rarer.&nbsp; On my 2 Pinterest boards I currently have 160 examples of portraits of men, although some of them are famous, while there are only 65 of women &amp; some of those are Queen Victoria.&nbsp; Women wore cameos of husbands; men, if they had a cameo of their wife or mother at all, had it in a case or little stand that they could take with them when they traveled.&nbsp; Cameos of women that have been set as jewellery are probably someone&#039;s sainted mother or daughter.&nbsp; I have only 3 of women.&nbsp; One is shell in a little calf skin case.&nbsp; Another is a hardstone cameo signed by Rudolph Otto, engraver to the royal court of Bohemia around the turn of the 20th century, which is in a brass folding easel style frame.&nbsp; The third is a shell cameo signed by Filippo Negroni, less well known than Saulini, et al., but, like them, recorded in the guidebooks of his time.</p><p><br /></p><p>To sum up, I would recommend to you the course I have followed myself when it comes to anonymous portraits: buy good ones that are cheap; buy ones that are signed &amp; reasonable.&nbsp; Don&#039;t buy the one you&#039;ve shown us unless it&#039;s really calling to you &amp; money is no object.&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/smile.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":)" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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