El Cid Gallery

"I want to buy ivory, but how would I know it's real?"

There are many items on the Market today being represented and sold as ivory that are actually bone or plastic.

That is why we collected a several methods to help you recognize if the item is ivory or a fake:

* The piece weight: Ivory feels heavy and dense when you hold it in your hand. If the item feels lightweight it's either bone or ivory. Bone can have the exact same weight as ivory. Compare the weight to similar items that you know to be ivory. Moreover, if you see spots or other odd markings, though, it probably isn't ivory.

* Ivory does not have pits or multiple darkened spots, unlike bone.
To test for this, find a pin and heat its tip until it is very hot. then touch it to the surface of the material. The results will show you if it is ivory or plastic.

* Feel the item texture: Ivory is lustrous and has a smooth surface. If the surface of the piece feels rutted and pockmarked, it might not be ivory.

* Synthetic ivory: Use a magnifying glass and look for air bubble indentations or small craters that appear from being poured in a mold. Synthetic Ivory will have grain lines in one direction, but when looking at the opposite angle, you will not see any lines; the ends of the lines on a synthetic piece will make a speckled pattern. This surface is usually the bottom of the piece. 

* The hot pin test: Plastic object dents whenever a very hot object touches its surface. 

* Plastic contains a single line that sticks out and goes around the material until it meets. This comes from the mold that holds the plastic together.

* Bones: Unlike teeth and tusks, bones have tiny canals that run through them to carry nutrients and house nerves and other organic material.

* Bottom of a piece: Since many collectors and dealers look first at the bottom of a piece, genuine ivory will only have the signature of the artist since the grain confirms the pieces authenticity and value.

* Getting the Item Tested by a Professional: To leave absolutely no question about your item, take it to a forensics lab and have it chemically tested by a scientist. The cellular structure of ivory is different from that of bone, but lab equipment is required to determine which is which with finality.