Thread: How to tell Bone from Ivory?

This question has been on my mind for some time... I own several items made out of ivory in my house like a salt spoon and i have bought razors in the past with bone scales... I under stand that Ivory is non porous, and i know that bone sometimes has some type of 'veining' or striations in the material that would not be present in Ivory. I just purchased a J Nore Paris blade with scales i think are Ivory, but i am not sure....
any ideas how i can tell for sure??? Pics to follow, cant pull out the camera right now as my son is sleeping.

The pores or holes in bone are called Halversian canals,Bone has its own blood supply unlike Ivory.
Will look forward to the pics.

Actually I would like a more definite way to tell myself so I will be following this. More for aged ivory. Where it starts to yellow a bit.

Is all in knowing what the grain looks like,best test for Ivory is a U.V. lgt parts of it will flash purple colors.

Hope the pics help, its hard to show the grain even under macro. Tell me what you think...

Hard to tell,The best way to see the grain in a pic is to shoot in direct sunshine at an oblique angle.

Cloudy in NY today :-/ I did go outside to get the lighting possible, My SLR capture pretty good detail though... Weird thing is it DEFINITELY has a bone spacer... I find it odd that they would use 2 different materials. Bun the scales and the spacer look completly different.The scale material appears smoother and creamier and more evenly colored whereas the space looks likes it had stripes

I don't know if this will help or not but it is a good read, at least I thought so. eBay Guides - Real Ivory vs. Bone or Resin Synthetic Products

This is going to sound funny, but the best way that I have found is to tap it against one of your front teeth. Ivory will make a sharper "ting" sound, while bone will make a duller "thud" sound-- once you feel it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Also, if you see any growth rings, like a tree, it's ivory. Hope this helps.

It does help, thanks so much. There are rings of growth like a tree, I'm going to try the tooth test to confirm..........

It's ivory. It's a sharp higher pitched tap sound when I tap it on my tooth.... Nice!