Does anyone know anything about bone/ivory?

[dovesgate]

I bought my kids a cheap wooden jewelry box with old costume jewelry in it to play with. There ended up being a silver bangle in it and a strange looking foo-dog type creature on a silk cord. I searched on Google for how to tell what it is and came across a heated pin test that it passed i.e. It didn't melt.

I looked at it through my loupe and it has tiny, tiny lines on it. Maybe similar to lightly sanded wood but finer? No experts in the area except maybe my pawn shop friend who has some ivory in her collection. Does anyone want to play my guessing game?

[dovesgate]

Nevermind. I took it to her and she said she thinks it's an ivory or bone netsuke - basically a kimono clasp. And I may have a piece of white jade glued into a finial. She thinks it is but I will need to test it further.

[Trinkette]

Ahahaha... just reading your first post I was going to write that it sounded like a netsuke. These can be beautiful things. I am curious to hear what you learn.

[clgwli]

I am very curious too!  I'd love to see pictures no matter what it is

[oldmancoyote]

If the grain lines are almost parallel to each other, it's likely to be bone rather than ivory. Ivory usually has cross-hatching grain (unless it's cut across the tusk). Please do post a photo - I love netsuke!

[dovesgate]

I took some pictures but now I'm waiting for my husband to get them onto my computer for me. He's working on a project of his so it may be a little bit.

Further updates - I took both pieces to the local jeweler. He also thinks ivory and jade. The jade piece was (badly) glued into the finial so he heated up the brass and pulled the jade piece out. It's pretty neat with it's two carved birds on each side. He pointed out there is a Chinese or Japanese character on the bottom of the piece.

So then it was off to the one place I can find people who can read Chinese plus a man who loves jewelry, especially off-beat or exotic items. He also agreed that the prior finial decor is jade, shared a lovely story about his late wife, and told me a piece of folklore behind jade. Then he borrowed the ivory piece and took it to one of his employees who said the writing on the bottom is old Chinese caricature, one of which means "mouth" - which is understandable since he is holding his huge belly and his mouth is gaping open. I'm guessing he's a hungry Shishi. However, he said that he doubts it is very old and that he thinks the caricature was added to make a tourist or someone think it is older than it is. I asked him if he thinks it is ivory and he said yes.

Oldmancoyote, once I got home I looked at it again with my loupe.  He is very textured up close with some crosshatching and some parallel lines depending on where I look. There is more crosshatching than parallel.

[dovesgate]

[dovesgate]

A brief update about the netsuke:

I ended up giving this to my mother-in-law. I figured that whether it is really ivory or not, she would appreciate the novelty of it as she is a former costume maker/seamstress with an interest in antiquities. Plus, she is Buddhist and I read quite a few places that these lions are set outside Buddhist temples as protection.

MIL took it to her temple and was told that it's real and that since I gave it to her as a gift it will protect her from evil. She believes in things like that so while I am not much for superstition I'm glad that it now has so much meaning for her.

I have no idea how I am ever going to top this gift. 

[Debangel]

LOL Awesome update!

[Trinkette]

Lovely! Thank you for the update.

I suppose, in the future, you could always add to her collection...