Featured Dragon Carving Material Need Help

Ok i got this carving from an estate sale and i love the detail but i can't verify what it was made of. Ive never owned ivory but it seems to have a lot of the characteristics of ivory. There are places on the carving that have broke off and it seems like on the tail piece that the substance is very porous. The face has some parts broken off but the breaks seem to be very solid. I took a hot pin and tried pushing it through the tail part and it did not pierce the object. I don't have a black light or i would test it for fluorescent properties. But i will say that its a very hollow bone like sound when you tap it. I know that pictures can't tell you everything but if anyone has any help please let me know. Thank you and God Bless.

 

Welcome, Norm. Thanks for supplying so many detailed pix - that always helps. I'm going to say this one is resin meant to look like ivory. We'll see what others think. 'Resin' is basically a polite word for plastic of unknown type.

 

Not obviously ivory, would guess bone on this one.

Also, how big is this? 2 inches long? 2 feet long?

 

It's very shiny for either ivory or bone. If this is where a piece has snapped off, I'm not seeing bone:



If it's all one piece, no matter the size, where would you get a piece of bone adequate to the overall shape? Scapula of an ox, maybe?

 

And the "hot pin test" is NEVER a good idea!

 

bone sounds right..

 

I'm still thinking resin.
Cream on the outside and pure white on the inside and what looks like a painted layer.

 

Hi Norm,
PLEASE stop using the hot pin test on anything. I have seen so many items destroyed and several people with severe burns. Please stop using the hot pin test!!!!!!!
greg

 

I think bone.
It is a Chinese dragon holding a brocade ball (broken). The ball symbolizes the Pearl of Wisdom, something which Chinese dragons seem to be forever chasing. This one has caught it.

About the hot pin test: If older pieces like this are plastic, they are likely to be celluloid, an early plastic. Celluloid burns easily. I have seen it burn, quite spectacular, but much too rapid for a warm and fuzzy feeling. So please, no hot pin test.

 

Well, I tried to test your item for glow in the dark properties, but no matter how long I point my UV light at your items photo for, the moment I turned the monitor off, it simply would not glow.

That thoroughly scientifically accurate test aside... I'd say it looks like carved resin to me. There are a number of Chinese resin statues around, which look just like that item of yours.

 

Couch, I can tell you are not a regular on the jewelry forum. What you do, is take your monitor into a dark closet, and shine the UV light on the dragon.
Don't switch the monitor off, and you will see that it works, it is indeed a dragon:



Young dragons tend to fluoresce a different colour:



@Norm , please don't be offended, we have a bit of fun sometimes. Good for the little grey cells.

 

It is really important to know how big this dragon is. If he is small enough to have been made from the thick wall of a long bone, I would be in the bone camp. All of those sharp, crisp edges just don't look like resin to me.

 

If there is one telltale sign of resin in any of the pics, I have definitely been unable to find it.

Also it sounds like OP actually did perform a hot pin test (not that I endorse doing them, but it has already been done, so why not consider the result?) ...and the result did not seem to indicate resin.

 

that's not a mold....I see the sharp edged marks of it being hand carved.....imo

 

Agree. The yellowing on the outside and white on the inside of the damaged parts are also consistent with an older piece of bone. Yellow from years of exposure, but the inside unexposed part is white.
Gloss can be seen on many bone and ivory carvings. Resin is usually matte, celluloid is usually shiny like the bone and ivory it is meant to imitate.

 

plus....the bone could have been stained with tea, before carving.........
just a thought..

 

Could have, although tea stained bone and ivory are usually more yellow. Sometimes even brownish.

 

Curry powder makes a better yellow.

 

It also fluoresces nicely.

 

Thank you for all the replies. I would say that i am still on the fence about the item. I took more pics of the size. The hot pin testis definitely out of the question now. I guess I felt desperate to know if it was plastic. And once again the pin did not melt anything when i touched it to the tail end of the dragon. But im waiting on a black light to test the fluorescence of the piece. Thought it was funny about the monitors. But ill will keep updates posted on my discovery. Im truly not sure what to believe now because i bought the piece thinking it was bone. Then discovered that bone has a far different look. So then i thought it was ivory hints the pin test because im pretty sure its not plastic. But thanks once again and God Bless.

Chinese dragon holding a brocade ball helps a lot too. Thank you.
Looking at ivory colored resin carvings it could possibly be that. But wouldnt it have melted if the hot pin touched it?