Featured Not the needle: Cameo testing

I've been weighing asking about the hot needle test for a cameo piece, since I've been too afraid to do it with this one for over a year now---when I saw in the cameo mega-thread that you all hate the needle test! What a relief!!! Honestly, it always sounded like bullshit.

So, totally forgetting the needle: Is there a way to tell if my cameo is coral or celluloid or something else before I pay an appraiser to look at it? The piece feels cool to the touch at room temp, which I think suggests coral. It's very smooth, though, with no obvious tooling marks like on shell. But it looks like maybe coral cameos are typically smoother than shell?

I thought the locket is Victorian gilt, based on the style of the hinge, but I'm not sure. Lately it's been looking more revival to me. There's a little gunk but no chipping or fading of the gold (the inside of the locket is a different story). Don't know if the chain is original. It's definitely showing chrome in many places where the gold has worn away (chain stuck to a magnet like white on rice). It is sporting that fun older spring ring clasp, though.

Takes or suggestions?

 

@Bronwen
@PepperAnna

 

Yes there is, the visual way. It has the striations of coral, so genuine Mediterranean red coral. Lovely piece.

 

I concur..

 

Good find!

 

Oh wow just like that. Thank you!!!

 

Thank you! It's the piece that started my antique jewelry collection. My aunt handed me a plastic sandwich baggie with a mess of "leftover" jewelry her friend had cleared out of their mom's house. Not even sure why she thought of me, but I realized pretty quickly it some of it wasn't costume. I tried to give it back telling my aunt a lot of the jewelry was valuable, but she was like, "G probably knows and doesn't care. She has so much to get rid of." What can you do. At least she didn't throw it away

 

Welcome to the slippery slope.
The more you learn the more interesting it becomes I think. I began by picking up sparkly bits at jumble sales and car boots. People here are very generous in sharing their knowledge so don’t chuck anything out without checking with the joolies first!

 

You're in trouble now! First a coral cameo, next rhinestone Trifari and then... g'bye spare bedroom!

The setting looks like gold with copper solder; the solder has the greenies. The copper oxidizes and turns green when moisture gets to it. If it bothers you, dip a q-tip in ketchup and put a good glob all the way around the inner edge. Wait a few minutes and wipe off. The gunk should come with it. If you're afraid it might stain, dunk the q-tip in white vinegar, squeeze some out, and rub around until the q-tip turns green and the gunk is gone.

 

KETCHUP??? Hahaha amazing. You read my mind---cleaning it was going to be my next question. Though I couldn't have anticipated the response

 

Ketchup has vinegar in it, so acetic acid. Unlike vinegar the ketchup doesn't evaporate and sticks to the surface. It's a standard trick for jewelry sellers and antiques people to get rid of green gunk.

 

I trust you, I'm just tickled

 

One caveat is it can stain brass, but with gold you're probably safe, especially if you wipe off in about an hour or less.

 

Another is that vinegar can dissolve calcium carbonate, of which coral is made. Ketchup helps keep the vinegar from flowing around unconstrained, but if you're going to do this, maybe better to cover the coral with Vaseline, cold cream, something that will stay in place & keep the vinegar out. And moisturize the coral.

I agree with the consensus that your cameo is real coral, although probably dyed, which is more common than not. Of all the natural materials used for cameos, I would say coral is the easiest to fake visually. Glass can be especially convincing because, unlike plastic, it is dense, & can be made to have color variability the way some coral does. Tested against the teeth, as one tests pearls, glass is, you guessed it, glassy, with a brighter sound than coral produces when tapped against the teeth.

Plastic is often hollow & sounds that way when tapped with a fingernail. Plastic can look good until you pick it up & feel how light it is. It is also unnaturally smooth against the teeth.

Since both plastic & glass are molded, the lines tend to be softer, more rounded than usually seen in a hand-carved piece.

These are all fake:

 

Oh, & it's really not necessary to go jabbing a hot needle into it to figure out the material of any cameo you have in hand, although bluumz & I had an ongoing back & forth over whether or not 2 cameos were ivory, finally coming down on ivory when the back of one became exposed. But not before some cluck had done a hot needle test on the front of it.

 

To me something about the style of the chain doesn't seem to go with the cameo locket.

 

Just don't get the ketchup on the cameo

 

I didn't even think of that - lemon juice, but my brain doesn't automatically connecti vinegar. Acid is acid. It looks like the OP's cameo is all metal on the inside, so ketchup isn't likely to hit the coral. A damp q-tip wouldn't either with no drippies to get through.

 

From the mega thread, this is what you risk asking an appraiser to evaluate a cameo: CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

A decent jeweller can generally give you good information about precious metals & gem stones. Most know zilch about cameos or costume quality pieces, no matter how many letters after the name.

 

Thank you!! The appraiser is mostly so I can add pieces to the insurance. From the reviews I'm hoping I found a good one who specializes in antique & vintage & costume, but I'll def keep this in mind.

Would mineral oil work to protect the cameo while ketchup cleaning? or better something a bit goopy? Thinking papaw probably isn't the same as vaseline