Questions about a heavy cuff bracelet I think is bone

Here is a cuff bracelet with an oval piece of malachite in it. It weighs 134 grams, for what it's worth. From two angles.




From the back. The pin lifts to open it.

And from the side.


One identical to it recently sold on eBay, but without the malachite. Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-80s-Sin...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

That seller says "I believe the metal to be silver..." but it clearly is not. What might it be? And bone does seem though, right? Also, do Singapore and 80s sound right?

As ever, thanks!

 

From Tibet.....sometimes stained with tea......

 

& unless you've been wearing it for the past 30 years...it could have been made .... yesterday !

 

It looks as if it mde of ivory offcuts and I don't see why it is not silver.

 

This one says Afgan bone...


This one says 1960's bone...



This one Tribal Bone....



This one....just Bone..



I'd have to have one in my hand to say for sure.....
But....if it walks like a duck....

 

In the first two photos, if you look at the edge of the cap to the left of the malachite, there is a dark spot where it appears to have been scratched through to some very dark material. It is decidedly not tarnish, af.

 

Looks like the joint has split or worn apart. Many things called bone are called bone to be saleable. Better bone and sold than ivory and unsold.

 

I'd vote for Tibet or possibly India, bone. The bone of water buffalo, I think; almost free of the pores that are common in bone, but also lacking the Schreger lines one would see in most types of ivory.
At various shows and fairs one sees importers with large trays of these, selling very cheap. At their prices, one would not expect real ivory or real silver. I'd want it in hand to be entirely sure, but the style and quality of work are what one would expect from that part of the world..

 

If not ivory, the curvature makes me think of some version of tusk or antler. Just a hunch, though.

 

I took one look and said late 80s/early 90s India. They still make these by the ton, out of nickel and bone or horn and random rock. That looks more like dyed agate to me than malachite.

 

I picked this up today just because of your post. A few bits have lines similar to ivory but it is just the saw marks. The main piece of metal inside is yellow brass with peeling plating. The end pieces are nickel silver.

 

Oh, I wouldn't want to misrepresent it if it's not malachite. Let's try to be sure. Here's a close-up:

 

Nickel silver sounds about right. Thank you, Terry. And would it scratch like the way you can see this has in the first two photos, where it's very dark?

 

The darkness is probably corrosion caused by the silver solder flux

 

looks like genuine Malachite to me!

 

Thanks. I thought so too. But I would not like to get it wrong!