Sep
19
How can I tell if a bead is made of Bone or just costume jewelry?
ByI have a necklace and some of my friends say the beads are made of bone / ivory, while others say it is a hard plastic…How can I tell? Maybe there is a test one can do. Or a website that can help.
Put it under a microscope. If it has cell structure and striations, it’s bone. Plastic will be homogeneous, and may show other signs of manufacture.
3 Comments
September 20th, 2009 at 2:25 am
The bite test… if you bite bone, it’ll bite back!
References :
September 20th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Put it under a microscope. If it has cell structure and striations, it’s bone. Plastic will be homogeneous, and may show other signs of manufacture.
References :
September 20th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Heat up the pointed end of a pin with a match and poke the bead with the hot pin point in an inconspicuous place. If it is plastic the pin point will melt into the bead. If it is bone nothing will happen (i,e, it won’t melt.)
References :
Prior experience.