A vintage cameo and pearls. Image by Carrie Hannigan from Pixabay

Margie explains what a cameo is and takes us where artisans make it.

A cameo is a piece of art, is a part of Italian history, something for the life, something that you can use but almost something that pointed out your taste for elegance and grace.”Not all cameos are alike. Some are not even authentic and instead are fake.
Shell cameos must be hand crafted because the shell presents an uneven surface unsuitable for a machine-engraving.In addition to this the shell could easily break with a machine cut. The shells which are mainly utilized for the realization of cameos are:
• Cassis Madascarensis: so called “SARDONICA”, hight appx 30 cm. ; chestnut brown on the bottom and perfectly white on the surface to be engraved.
• Cassis Rufa: so called “CORNIOLA”, in general height is appx 16 cm.,has an interior reddish layer; the exterior layer, for engraving, is pale-flesh-colored
• Other shell: Tigrina shell (Cypraea tigris); Red shell (Cornuta cassis); corallina shell (Strombus Gigas) Mother of pearl (Pinctada Margaritifera)
Shells from the Cassis Family are particularly adapt for engraving: in fact, the two layers of of color, clearly distinct from one another, allow the relief figure to stand out in the best way.

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