We know that flowers can always fill up the gaps, but what about a special gift that will not only last your life span, but be in the family for generations to come?

Yes, the perfect gift that defies time is the Italian shell Cameo.  This piece of jewelry is not only an elegant gift, but it is as valuable gift as you can make beside gold or even better since your cameo can be a great investment that you will have for ever or can sell  at a huge profit.

Another reason why an Italian shell cameo can make the perfect gift for this special occasion is that cameos a undeniably linked to romance.  It is the perfect romantic gift coming from one of the most romantic places of Europe, Italy!  The perfect “ladies only gift” that they can wear proudly and pass on to their daughters.

Yes, the Italian shell cameos can make a perfect Valentines day gift with all the value and romance you might want to put into a gift for that most romantic day.

Now, when you have made up your mind to purchase a cameo for a life time gift,  your next thought should be, what is the best way to find affordable cameos? This is a legitimate question, since there are many different kind of cameos at different prices out there!

I invite you to find more here and get educated about cameos.

To learn more about cameos go to The Cameo Store Info

Are you looking for the perfect gift for the holidays? Even with the best intentions, the price might be the first thing you want to know about.  It’s true cameos can be expensive, but there are still cameos out there that can be very much affordable and be a life long perfect gift.

If you don’t know anything at all about cameos yet, the first thing you need to know is that there are “real” cameos and “fake” and fake cameos. This alone will make a huge difference in the price, but you need to make sure that you are not sold a fake cameo for a real one. Unfortunately, there are a large number of fake cameos made in China that might be sold as real.

How can you avoid to be sold a fake cameo for a real one?

Cameos are valuable pieces of jewelry, and you should buy these precious pieces of jewelry from cameo experts who are able to test and appraise them. Experts will also be glad to examine any cameo that you might have and tell you if is real or not.

Now, you might be wondering how expensive is a real cameo? Even among real cameos, prices vary greatly.  Depending if you choose to purchase a hard stone cameo, shells embed diamonds cameo or antique cameo, for example. Your choice will most likely determine its price.

This said; the same kind of cameos might be priced differently depending on where you purchase it as well. In order to find the best quality price you might have to do some research on real cameo’s merchants.

Nowadays, you don’t have to drive around miles and miles to find a store where you can buy precious items such as cameos. You can sit in front of a computer, do a simple search and find stores with a great collection of some of the most precious and beautiful cameos you can find in the market. If the price is still the primary concern for you, those online stores happen to have great deals as well.

To  learn more about cameo and find great cameos price from a cameos expert visit TheCameoStore.com

The methods used to carve cameos haven’t changed in thousands of years. Although modern machinery now assists in the initial stages of the process, the intricate details are still carved by hand.  ( Most agate, sardonyx or onyx stone agate are carved from a hand made original, and then carved ultrasonically).  Most shell, cameo, however, are still  carved by hand.

The carvers use very sharp steel gravers with handles that fit the hand of the carver. With these incredibly sharp precision tools, the most intricate details can be obtained.

The most important steps in the cutting process  which will decide where the cameo will be on the shell.  Then starts the first layer removal, the marking, profile molding, the sanding, and placement determination, the designing, sketching , the engraving,the  finishing, polishing with oil and oil removal.

During this process the sculptor/carver must be very careful that the cameos, especially the shell, are not bumped around or dropped as they are very fragile at this stage of the fabrication.

After it is carved, the future cameo is engraved. The cameo to be engraved is mounted with wax on a wooden stick. After having sketched a picture of what he intends to carve onto the cameo, the engraving begins. Cameos can often be engraved using dental tools! Then, the cameo is cleaned with oil.

Finally, after the cameo is formed and cleaned, it is placed in a setting. This is strictly hand-made. The gold frames are most often used for this purpose. Older cameos are set in brass, gold filled, silver vermeil, or silver. Mother-of-Pearl is usually set in silver.

The frames, like cameos themselves, are created in all shapes and sizes, the most popular being the oval. A gold metal ribbon (bezel or gallery wire) is wrapped around the perimeter and folded over the edge of each single cameo. In this fashion no two can be exactly alike in their curvature, thickness and contour. The bezel is then twisted into a decoration, such as braids or ribbons.

You can tell a cameo’s time period by its frame. Restrained, simple frames surround the early Victorian pieces, in contrast to the jeweled, pearled and diamond settings that came later in that period. Turn-of-the-century and later Art Deco cameos are set in white gold.

Everything about a cameo carving is unique from its very start. No two authentic cameos are alike in any way.  This makes cameos even more valuable and very different from other pieces for jewelry.

Cameos come in two style; the shell cameo and the hardstone cameo. Both cameos are sculpted masterpieces, but each one can be sculpted in very different ways.

The shell cameo being much softer than the stone cameo is always sculpted by hand. Most hardstone cameos are now sculpted ultrasonically from a hand carved masterpiece.

Among the shell cameos there are different kinds of seashells that are selected, such as the Sardonyx, the Carnelian, and the Mother-of Pearl.

The Sardonyx being the most resistant and the thickest shell makes cameos carved from it more expensive than cameos made from other shells. The carnelian with a reddish-brown or orange shades is the most used shell for cameo carving. The Mother-of Pearl produces a muted pale blue cameo.

Unfortunately, there is also the “plastic fake cameo”. Those fake cameo are mostly made in China and can fool an untrained eye. If you have a cameo that you would like to know the real value of, you need to have it expertize by a cameo expert. If you don’t mind ruining your plastic cameo, you can do the “hot needle” test. If the spot touch by the needle melts its plastic. If nothing happens to your cameo, it’s real!

Cameos may seem expensive at first, but if you know a little more about what is involved in the creation of these beautiful little pieces of art, the price might not seem as high to you anymore.

Cameos have to be hand-picked in the warm waters of the ocean off the shore of the Caribbean, Bahamas, Central America and West Africa.  They are then shipped to a small town of Italy named Torre de Greco which is literally the world’s center of the shell cameo.  This is where the shell cameos will take shaped from A-Z.

The different steps in the creation of a shell Italian cameo jewel are: First layer removal, the outlining and cutting of about three oval shapes per shell, the cutting, the sanding, and the outlining in pencil of the cameo rough shape, the engraving and the polishing.  The shell cameo must be handled with care, making sure that they are not bumped around or dropped, since during this process the object is very fragile and could be ruined with a simple bump.

After the cameo itself is finished, the artist creates a frame to fit the cameo perfectly.  Since the frames are also made by hand they are as unique as the cameo itself.  Another reason for the high value of cameos is that no two cameos are exactly the same.

Italian Cameo jewelry is one of the best investments you can make when you purchase one of those beautiful pieces of art that you can enjoy now and forever.

Cameos are precious carved masterpieces that are considered art work as well as jewelry, and always a hot product for collectors.  Another positive feature of cameos is that they always seem to appreciate in good times and bad times.  Cameos are four investments in one. They are an investment in precious metal such as gold or silver, in art work, in antiques and in jewelry.

Investing in cameos is similar to the stock market.  You buy your cameos and hold your investment anywhere from 5 to 20 years, and you will make a profit many times over.  When you are buying stock you need someone to guide you to avoid mistakes as much as possible.  When you are buying cameos for investment, you want to be sure that a cameo expert is guiding you as well.  This is especially true if you are not sure that you would be able to recognize a real cameo from a fake one.

Recently, China has produced fake plastic cameos that are intended to imitate the real shell cameos from Italy.  Some of those fakes are pretty good imitations and can fool a non-trained eye.  So don’t take the risk if you don’t know anything about the real origin of the cameo you are intending to buy.

The best thing to do before you get into cameo investments is to team up with a good collector and negotiate to buy from them at a reduced price.  By getting a deal there will be more room for a good investment.  For example, buying a small collection of at least three cameos will be a much better investment than just buying one.  The reason for this is that a cameo collection appreciates much more and more rapidly than just one single cameo.  This is why a good deal is very important; it will allow you to buy more than one cameo and improve your investment.

If you are looking for a way of a solid investment, cameo investment could be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Today the cameo is still a precious piece of jewel that is enjoyed by cameos lovers and collectors.  Cameos are the perfect gift that will last for generations after generations.  Furthermore Italian cameos jewelry can also be a great investment.

Cameos may seem expensive at first, but if you know a little more about what is involved in the creation of these beautiful little pieces of art, the price might not seem as high to you anymore.

Cameos have to be hand-picked in the warm waters of the ocean off the shore of the Caribbean, Bahamas, Central America and West Africa.  They are then shipped to a small town of Italy named Torre de Greco which is literally the world’s center of the shell cameo.  This is where the shell cameos will take shaped from A-Z.

The different steps in the creation of a shell Italian cameo jewel are: First layer removal, the outlining and cutting of about three oval shapes per shell, the cutting, the sanding, and the outlining in pencil of the cameo rough shape, the engraving and the polishing.  The shell cameo must be handled with care, making sure that they are not bumped around or dropped, since during this process the object is very fragile and could be ruined with a simple bump.

After the cameo itself is finished, the artist creates a frame to fit the cameo perfectly.  Since the frames are also made by hand they are as unique as the cameo itself.  Another reason for the high value of cameos is that no two cameos are exactly the same.

Italian Cameo jewelry is also one of the best investments you can make when you purchase one of those beautiful pieces of art that you can enjoy now and forever.

Antique Italian Cameo

Italian Cameos, masterpieces of jewelry,  are born in the sea.  The shells are collected in the waters of the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Central America and East Africa at about 90-100 feet below the water’s surface.  There are about 100,000 seashell species in the world, but only six of these are fit for cameo carving.  The reason why, is that divers must select ONLY shells that are flawless.  What carvers are looking for are shells with no cracks and great contrast in colors between the lighter part and the darker part.  Contrast in colors makes the most beautiful and valuable Italian cameos.

The shells are from the Conch family, and two types of these are most frequently used for cameo carving, which are the carnelian and the sardonyx shells.  Most carnelian shells come from West Africa.  This shell offers a reddish-brown or peach orange color.  The sardonyx shell has a thicker outer wall and a dark brown interior.  Once carved, it resembles marble, which makes some exceptionally gorgeous cameos and make the sardonyx Italian cameo the most costly one.  Because the making of cameos is one hundred percent the product of the human hand, not two cameos are alike.  This is one of the reasons why they are so precious and valuable.  The most popular motif is the profile of a woman; however, there are many other designs that are used for cameo carvings.

Beware of imitation

May be you have seen cameos not thinking about their authenticity.  Well, if you want to purchase a cameo, you may want to make sure that it is a real one.  In recent years, China has been manufacturing fake cameos made of plastic which for a non- connoisseur look very much like the shell cameo.  How can you tell the difference?  If you already own a cameo which you are not sure about its authenticity, the best way is to have it evaluated by a trained jeweler.  If you want to purchase one, look for the color of the cameo.  Most plastic cameos have a different coloration than real ones.

Not all cameos are equal, and the best way to be able to tell the difference between a real cameo and a fake one,  is to become knowledgeable about cameos.  If you want to purchase a real Italian cameo you need to get educated about these precious gifts for you and the ones you love that will last forever.

The Cameo Store