The art of designing cameos dates back hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. For those who are unfamiliar with cameos, they constitute wearable portraits sculpted in a wide variety of precious and semiprecious stones encircled by settings or filigrees. The settings are typically fashioned from precious materials – particularly gold and silver – but there are certain highly valuable cameos enclosed in bronze frameworks.

With respect to the material of the centerpiece of the cameo, agate is generally the prevalent choice. But why should antique jewelry aficionados consider acquiring cameos for their collection or as an investment? Let’s find out!

Cameos as investment opportunities

The primary reason why you should consider the idea purchasing cameos is that they constitute a multiple investment. To be more precise, when you invest in antique cameos, you invest in:

• Art
• Precious metals
• Antiques
• Jewelry

As you can clearly see, the appreciation of cameos is directly influenced by all of the aforementioned markets. Art, and especially antique pieces, increase in value over time, the precious metal niche is on the rise and jewels will always constitute a solid investment.

Furthermore, unlike the stock market of today, the value of antique cameos does not vary in accordance with volatile economical and geo-political climate. In other words, these pieces will consistently appreciate with age, irrespective of how the stock market fares.

Are all cameos equally viable investments?

Most definitely not, in fact there are a limited number of pieces on the market nowadays that are worth your hard earned cash in terms of turning a profit. The key to acquiring a piece that will appreciate with time consists of learning what features make a certain antique cameo valuable and what defects may negatively influence its worth. Here is what you should remember:

• Plastic counterfeit cameos are not worth anything now and will not appreciate in value.
• Stress lines are nothing to be worried about, but a fissure or crack will definitely reduce the cameo’s worth.
• Complex designs, particularly in terms of pieces that depict whole body or several characters, will generally appreciate in value quicker and to a larger amount.
• Hard stone handcrafted cameos are more difficult to sculpt; therefore, elaborate pieces constitute an indicator for the talent of the creator and the scarcity of that particular type of cameos.
• Rarity plays a more important role in the value appreciation of an antique cameo rather than the age of the piece.
• Themed collections are more valuable compared to pieces sold individually.

When you eventually decide to vendor your collection of antique cameos, it is advisable to inquire about specialized auctions or show in your city or neighboring locations. This way you should be able to take advantage of much higher profits than you would by selling the pieces at the local jeweler because you might come across cameo aficionados interested in completing or enlarging their personal collections. Alternatively, researching the countries where the cameo market is prosperous at that time – currently Japan numbers many potential buyers – and selling your collection there might land you a better profit.