Determining Ivory Material on a Pre-War Piano: Chemical Testing and Other Methods

Hello
Hey guys, I've acquired a pre-war piano and would like to sell it, but I'm afraid the keys are covered in ivory (someone tried to remove the cream finish on some of the keys).
Do you know any way to check if what is there is actually ivory? Can it be tested chemically? Maybe ivory reacts to something in a specific way?

Regards and waiting for suggestions.

It will certainly start to "dissolve" in contact with vinegar .... but that's every bone.

How to check if a pearl is real? (bone too)
1 - Drop into concentrated acetic acid
2 - we are waiting ......
3 - how did it dissolve WAS true :)

Check on a scrap. 10% vinegar (food grade) may not be enough for the test.

ziemek56 wrote:

How to check if a pearl is real? (bone too)
1 - Drop into concentrated acetic acid
2 - we are waiting ......
3 - how did it dissolve WAS true :)

Check on a scrap. 10% vinegar (food grade) may not be enough for the test.

Vinegar can be frozen, acetic acid freezes at -16, water is known, ice cubes and concentrated vinegar will form in the bottle when thawing. This vinegar will be little (after all, it's 10%). By chance, don't put a glass bottle in the freezer, I won't clean your fridge :lol:

It seems to me that the ivory should have been wiped from the fingers if this piano was used. Not literally wiped off, but there are other marks on the bone like some kind of plastic.

I'll try next weekend. I will write the results.

But I am open to other suggestions.

I can send some photos of this piano to interested parties.

hello, I am also looking for something where I could find out how to recognize ivory, well, I bought some time ago in a junk shop (I love them) the buddha figurine is not too big but I am 90% convinced that it is made of ivory I miss the 10% up to 100% well, I guess the only thing left is a jeweler, if I find one who will know his stuff, I'm curious how much such a figurine is worth, if it's natural ivory, if I have the opportunity, I'll take a picture of it. it is made of full bone, you can see the jars in the base, and there is a core in the middle on the top of the buddha's head, there is also a dot or a core (at least it seems to me), the buddha is also after the cut, there are slight cracks after that, ok, I'm not bored, as the pictures will be I will show you greetings...

I found your post by accident. And what is ivory or plastic?

Look for someone from the customs service in the area. He will 100% recognize it.
They are very sensitive to it.

I found a little figurine. .a sidewalk exhibition in Germany. In the cardboard box was an almost new backpack that interested me (I still have it . There were also old toys, stuffed animals, figurines. Clearly someone left it in the trash.
Ok. I will try with vinegar.

The first is a microscope, the fangs have stripes and dots, not pores like other types of bones. The second is density, the third is uv light.

A hot needle can quickly tell if it's plastic or not. It won't confirm it's bone, but it can rule it out.