# How do you distinguish bone from ivory?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-distinguish-bone-from-ivory/386422>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 2, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-distinguish-bone-from-ivory/386422 "2007-01-02T15:55:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-distinguish-bone-from-ivory/386422/1 "2007-01-02T15:55:03Z")

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I travel often in Asia and like to check out handicraft shops in whatever country I am visiting. I am particularly interested in hand carvings, the finer the detail the better. Very often in these shops, I come across nice handicrafts made with carved or inlaid bone. I know that in previous decades these would have been made in ivory, but with the ban on ivory trade this is now illegal. I realise that due to cost considerations if nothing else, the chance of them passing off ivory as bone is highly unlikely. But still, it would be good to know so I don’t have any unpleasant surprises at customs…

So out of curiosity, how would you tell the difference between ivory and bone? Is it a question of the color? The grain? How they age? Cracking?

[For the Mods: This question is purely out of technical interest, and I have no intention whatsoever to promote the trafficking of ivory with the United States or elsewhere!]

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-distinguish-bone-from-ivory/386422/2 "2007-01-03T10:10:53Z")

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some useful info here [http://www.asian-arts.net/oriental-treats/fake.htm](http://www.asian-arts.net/oriental-treats/fake.htm) and here [FAQ 7c.2 - Is It Ivory?](http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/ivory.html)

however as some of the tests involve burning pins the stall holders may not approve!

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-distinguish-bone-from-ivory/386422/3 "2007-01-03T11:50:22Z")

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[QUOTE=scm1001]  
some useful info here [http://www.asian-arts.net/oriental-treats/fake.htm](http://www.asian-arts.net/oriental-treats/fake.htm) and here [FAQ 7c.2 - Is It Ivory?](http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/ivory.html)

[/QUOTE]

Thanks **scm1001** , these answer my questions very well, especially the second one. Very useful site!