Oh my goodness, that is just... wow. Wherever your family is finding those, they struck a gold mine! Unbelievably beautiful. Happy Birthday indeed!

thank you!

They were bought in Italy, pre-loved and both owned by the same person. She had three, and these were my two favorites. When she decide to part with the first she had approached me knowing my love of them but even at a great price I couldn't do it. My husband decided he wanted to get the first for our anniversary.

When she decided to relinquish the second one, my mother had been bugging me for a few months about what I wanted for a birthday gift. This year is what she considers to be a big-ish birthday. I couldn't come up with anything. Then I told her about this and she loved it.

Lovely E!!! Happy Birthday.

those are THE most beautiful cameos I have EVER seen!

I know, I wasn't really a cameo person until I saw these. I wish you could see the detail, but the camera doesn't really capture it.

Here are some photos that she had taken:




The way they're carved they change SO much in different lighting. It's really enchanting, like they are alive or something.

I can't even begin to fathom the kind of skill it would take to create something like this. The guy was in his 70's I believe too! Apparently the hand carving of cameos is a dying art. Machines do it now, so the older pieces that are made my hand are really going to be priceless in the future.