Attributed to Wilhelm Schmidt

Schmidt, who later in his career worked for Tiffany, was a master carver of opal. Writing to Abraham Booth, he described how that, 'I may mention the date of 1874, when I invented the new process of cutting opal cameos in such a manner as to utilise the matrix of rough opal for the ground... Mr John Brogden exhibited the first one, which I cut, amongst his other exhibits at the Paris Exhibition, 1878...'