I keep seeing these incredibly priced Cameo's. Are they a lighting effect trick ?? On silver coins they appear to have a dark background, and a silver fore ground. I would sure like to know what the story is. :rolling:
A deep cameo coin will have a mirrored background (fields) with a heavy frosting on the images (devices). These are beautiful coins, which appear to have a black background with white frosty images. A cameo will have a slightly less frosty appearance on the images. There won’t be a strong of a contrast as the deep cameo but it is still noticeable. A brilliant proof will show the images and fields with a mirrored finish. You will not see much contrast between the images and the fields. An additional consideration for deep cameo and cameo coins is that they must have the same contrast on both the obverse and reverse of the coin. It is not unusual to see a coin with a nice cameo on the obverse and a brilliant finish on the reverse. These types of coins won’t carry a cameo designation by a reputable grading company. Modern technology allows the mint to produce more deep cameo coins then ever before. You will still run across late date proofs that have a cameo and brilliant finish. So these days finding a late date proof with a deep cameo appearances is not that rare.
Lots of cameos out there and some deep cameos too. Point us to what you are looking at. Lots of smarts here to help you.
short answer: yes it is a lighting trick, but it is way easier with a coin with strong legitimate cameo contrast and nearly impossible with a brilliant coin. Therefore even though it is a lighting trick it is fairly instructive in showing that it is truely a cameo specimen.
The "lampshade method" of coin photography (basically using a lampshade or paper cylinder to diffuse the light radially) will cause the cameo on a proof coin to become more striking. As troll said, it takes some cameo on the coin to begin with to make it work, but even a slight amount of cameo and contrast enhancement can fool 99% of the people looking at it. If the OP will post an example of what he's talking about, I'd be happy to take a look and provide a more detailed and specific opinion on the auction in question -- but it is a common occurrence on eBay.. Respectfully...Mike
Oh, at least it does really exist. I just thought it was a rather annoying word that got stupid people to buy otherwise plain coins at inflated prices from conartists on ebay. I still hate the word though!
I guess I did a poor job in describing my original question on cameo's. Rephrased--I have lots of BU silver coins and don't think I would recognize one when it's put on a table next to a BU.Would the cameo jump out as very different next to a BU ??
Yes. A coin with cameo devices, the devices look just like the grass or your windshield when you first walk outside on a frosty morning.
