marble or granite or

Hi all anyone know what stone this trinket box is please looks like granite base but not sure on rest quite well made. 100mm across age and origin also if anyone knows

 

Looks like alabaster, probably from Agra, India.

 

weighs 666 grams

 

Hi,
The only way I know if things are marble or alabaster is the tiny mark test. On the bottom make a tiny shallow scratch put a drop of white vinegar on the scratch. Look through a magnifier if it bubbles it is marble if no reaction it is alabaster. Wipe off the mess with a damp cloth. Marble is calcium carbonate will bubble, Alabaster is calcium sulfate no bubbles.
greg

 

thanks greg another lesson today thanks
did that picture shown when I marked a blue came through when I did it and bubbles marble then?

 

Hi,
Never ever seen blue bubbles fizz. Might have it been dyed before?
greg

 

doh I used a small poker to scratch from my swiss army knife and it had the smallest mount of blue ink on it where from no idea
anyway new pics without the blue enhancement small bubbles visible

 

Hi Chris, I'm with you. The panel on the bottom looks like it might actually be stone, but there's something off about the rest of it that's hard to put into words. Partly it's the way it is constructed. The legs & the pyramid shape on top of the lid all look like separate pieces. How are they attached to other parts? Not so much the main body, but the swirls & striations of the lid have an unnatural quality. It's not Incolay, but looks to me like something similar. I have an Incolay box like this one, except cleaner: https://cdn0.rubylane.com/shops/1384268/0230.2L.jpg?84

 

correct they are separate pieces
what about a bit of wet and dry sandpaper in bottom of feet see if anything happens
the other piece of stone is glued to underside of lid

 

Can't imagine putting together something so heavy with glue. The odd color patterns are one reason I considered the possibility of a material similar to Incolay, which is colored with pulverized stone. The Incolay polymer has several properties that make it fairly easy to work with. One of these is that it bonds to itself without the need for extreme heat. This is the other major reason I suspect at least some elements of the box are artificial; the pieces would hold together, not fall apart when the glue dried out.

I don't think any of these polymers would react with something as weak as highly diluted acetic acid, aka vinegar. I don't see frothing, I see several little pearl-like bubbles I suspect are just air escaping from small pits/crevices in the surface. My eyes often play tricks when it comes to discerning depth in photos. Are there small bumps or pits on the leg surface that shows in the second pic with the vinegar test?

 

ok so to summarise agree it's not marble it's seems to for want of a better word 'soft'
when I tap it together gives a stone sound which from what something like incolay would give given that it's a stone type product so this could be that or something similar. there is a line of glue alongside one of the feet. also it scratched easier than I thought marble or a denser stone would does this help

 

Went in the other room to tap on the lid of my Incolay jewellery box & clink it together with another piece. It is not as cool to the touch as actual stone would be & makes a much duller sound when tapped with a fingernail than stone does. I'm not going to try to scratch it. Alabaster & marble are soft stones. Suspect marble & Incolay may scratch about equally as easily. After looking at the under side of the box lid in good light, I am more convinced than ever this one is also a stone simulant. Not sure why the bottom panel would be made of something different, if only in color. Possibly for weight?

 

awesome thanks Bronwen another word I have learned this past couple of days is incolay love it!

 

IN COlored LAYers.

 

well there you go thanks

 

This one is too small, but we used to sell similar "caskets", constructed the same way because they were not designed to be handled once the lid was glued down..............after the ashes were placed inside. Then the casket was placed in the receiving vault of choice. hopefully not to be disturbed for "eternity"...................or until the city authorities decide that they need to expand the airport and knock the mausoleum down................

 

That is a possibility that had not occurred to me. Do you know what those caskets were made of? Were they also different on the bottom like this? Love that you were able to expand our thinking this way - thanks.

 

I don't remember WHAT the bottoms were made of, but I do remember that they were not of the same "stone" as the parts that were visible. They came in different price points, so I imagine that the material differed with each model. My grandfather always referred to them as "cheapskate elegance", so I suppose they were all looks and no quality. It has been fifty years since my family was involved in that end of the "End" business, so I do not remember many details.................