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Can You Tell Fake Ivory From Real?

Older Chinese carvings done in ivory are some of the most beautiful works of art ever done. Ivory was a medium that allowed true masters to show off their skills. It can however be very difficult to determine ivory from bone, plastic and other resins that are used to imitate the look and feel of real ivory. One of the problems is that ivory comes from tusk and teeth from different animals and the look of real ivory can vary greatly depending on the source.
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Magnifying Glass
When examining ivory a magnifying glass is a must, somewhere around 15x is good. Just cause a piece is older does not mean that it is ivory as faux ivory has been used for hundreds of years. The best way is by looking to see if the object has a grain. If it has a grain and you see cross hatching at the bottom of the piece this is a very good indicator you have ivory. Look for a grain pattern that is random as many fakes will have a pattern that is a little to perfect. Generally plastic is smoother than real ivory and bone. Bone is generally more pitted and does not have the grain of ivory.

Hot Pin Test
You can also use the hot pin test that we suggested you use on jade. A hot pin can not penetrate real ivory as it will plastic. Also when you touch bone with a hot pin it might not penetrate but when you smell the object you will smell something close to what burning hair would smell like. When you touch ivory and smell where the pin has touched its more of a burning teeth dentist office type of smell. Of course as with any test you perform you want to do it on the bottom of the object.

UV Light
One method used by serious collectors is to examine a object under UV light. Ivory when examined under UV light is bright and fluorescent where most fakes will not fluoresce and are dull. UV lights are affordable and are a must for any serious collector of ivory, jade, paper, porcelain and oil paintings. Knowing the history of a object will also help authenticate it.