Pre-Ban Vintage Carved Ivory and Bone Jewelry (Continued)

4. Use a quick search for " Shreger line " on one of the popular search engines will produce ample information as well as nice clear photos. After little experience it is easy for you to tell the difference between resin and ivory.

5. Resin has the weight of ivory...but is too uniform, and lacks a patina. Some fake ivory actually contains bone or powdered ivory, and may have lines, yet they are 'too uniform' and will always fail the "Hot Pin Test". ...Netsuke...can be a good example...Sometimes composed of a ivory mixature used in Today's Fake Ivory.

6. The 'Hot Pin Test' can be used to detect synthetic ivory. Simply heat a pin to "Red Hot, and if the pin 'sinks' into the item -it is NOT- ivory. A hot pin will Not penetrate real ivory...even a little... You might catch that familiar dentists drill smell of burning teeth, but this will be faint. Note...The Hot Pin Test is Not recommended for very Valuable items...Unless...you can find a discreet place in which to place the hot pin...that would not be noticable. Also...Ivory... which is considerably harder will take some force to produce even a scratch.

7. Cheek Test'...Another quick test is to place the item on one's cheek, if the item is cold then it maybe real? A very similar test is used to tell glass buttons from plastic. But this test has many variables, which include the temperature of the item and of the room and so forth.

8. Resin will adjust to heat much quicker then ivory. ' Xylonite' (Xy·lon·ite) can appear as ivory at a distance, but it is much too light. ...Xylonite... was used to mimic ivory items such as brushes, combs and trinket boxes, and is Collectible in it's own right, but it is not nearly as valuable as a similar ivory item.

9. 'Resin' will smell like burning plastic. Bone...will often 'Smoke' if exposed to excessive heat.

10. Scrimshaw artist can attest that Mammoth ivory which is being utilised in such places as Alaska varies as far as color from beige to a dark coffee color depending on the minerals in which it has been exposed.

11. Elelphant or Mammoth tusk ivory comes from the two modified upper incisors. HIPPO, WALRUS and some BOAR are the most used and recognized ivory in today's world.