The red-hot pin didn't melt the handle at all. The reason that I thought that it may be ivory is that it doesn't have those little pits that you see on many bone handles. It's very smooth. It definitely has a "grained" pattern to it, but it's subtle and you have to look at it pretty close to see it. The pattern is hard to describe. It's not lines running the length of the handle like the faux ivory handles that I've seen. It's my understanding that there are many different types of ivory though - who knows - I guess it could be a number of different materials.