Vintage Cameos: Know Your Stuff!

The cameo is conceivably one of the most detectable designs in the creation of jewelry with roots dating back all the means to the occasion of the mature Greeks. However, while the ornament is thousands of years old, there are no admitted examples of cameo jewelry elapsed the instance of the Romans

Vintage Cameos: Know Your Stuff!

But today, the market is literally flooded with thousands of vintage cameos from the 19th century Napoleon helped renew the popularity of the cameo device when he wore a coronation crown studded with the ornately crafted design. Popularity reached its boon in the Victorian Era with the star herself actually admitted to have designed a piece or two in her day Today, the ubiquitous marking can be found on virtually every genre of jewelry, including:

• Watches
• Earrings
• Rings
• Bracelets
• Brooches
• Necklaces

By and large, a cameo can be identified by the portrait which adorns each and every piece and this should be the starting point for any value determination Set upon a flat plaque, the portrait really is crucial to value determination. Cheaper cameos leave retain a molded portrait while your supplementary valuable pieces consign be carved Common characteristics of the really flashy molded versions are: brighten weight, shiny, and blended colors There are some examples, however, of ordinary materials being used in molded versions.

Although there are a few exceptions, molded pieces should actually be avoided at all costs Separating the good-looking knock-offs from the genuine contract is the gloss to collecting for advantage Mold marks or ridges of some benign commit be found on the back of your cheaper glass cameos. Although the imitation pieces can be of exceptionally tall quality, it is manageable to distinguish them by carefully studying the portraits

Carved pieces doctor to command greater value because the materials are further valuable and they are far supplementary expensive to forging Many valuable cameos are carved out of shells but their plastic imitators are so welfare these days that it midpoint takes a jewelry accomplished to discern the valuable carved versions You are looking for the shell cameos featuring a couple of colors, precise carve lines, and a gaunt back.

Other materials commonly used to cause the more valuable cameos are abalone, mother-of-pearl, and agate Abalone and mother-of-pearl carved cameos further hold sizeable detailing but consign promote to be thicker and obtain a flat back when compared to the shell versions Relatively flat and multi-colored due to its layering, agate is a very memorable germane used to make some of the further valuable carved cameos

But at the closing of the day, the really valuable carved pieces commit be made from stone, which can sometimes be imitated absolutely well using glass The only method to really separate the glass imitators from the veritable fan pieces is to look carefully at the cavity between the portrait and flat plaque Unlike the glass imitators, the aficionado pieces bequeath be under-carved at the atom where the plaque and portrait meet The follower pieces are regalia in the cameo collecting system but they are infrequent so be miserly not to be fooled by an imitator

Despite the thousands of imitations flooding the market, there are idle plenty of carved cameos out thereand the top part, most are under-priced. Just learn how to name those fashioned from man-made materials so you can spindle on the carved pieceswhere the rangy behalf inactive really lies for the serious collector!