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Ivory and Bone are two materials, the names of which are often used interchangeably, but which in fact are two different natural materials.  

Ivory a smooth grained material which is made from the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals with tusks. It is creamy white in color, usually with a cross hatching type of grain.  Sometimes the finish is very smooth and other times, it has more of a natural texture. . Not ivory will show this cross hatch grain.  It depends on the way that it has been cut, but it will always have a prominent grain mark of some sort.  This photo clearly shows the cross hatching grain under magnification.

Although bone has a similar look, it does not have the telltale ivory cross hatch grain.  The grain line in bone is more often a series of fairly parallel lines. Bone also often has pits and other imperfections which are not usually apparent in ivory pieces.   The finish is normally natural looking, not smooth and finish.  The following photo is a good example which shows the grain of bone as well as the pits and imperfections often found in it.

Ivory is highly collectible and the import of it into the USA has been banned since mid June 1989. Items labeled pre-ban ivory are those which were made and imported into the USA earlier than this period.  Ivory has a much higher price tag than bone does.

One way to determine if the item is real ivory is the hot pin test. BEWARE: I don't normally recommend pin tests.  Use this only if you don't mind damage if your item is not ivory, since you will damage a synthetic piece for sure.  True ivory is virtually impenetrable with heat. To use the pin test, take a large pin or needed and heat the pin until it is red hot. Poke your item somewhere that will not show. If it is real ivory it will not penetrate, but will only leave a tiny mark. Bone is also resistant to heat but not as much as ivory, so if your mark is much larger it is more likely bone. (also ivory smells like burning teeth and bone has much less of a smell.

Here are a few examples of some pre-ban ivory jewelry items.

There are many places online and in real stores to purchase gemstones, but how is one to know whether the stone is a fake or an impostor?  If you read the jewelry ads, you may often find descriptive words that will tell you this information.

Many lab created or man made stones will use the word of an actual gemstone, but also a "qualifer," which is the give away as to the fake thing.  Many times the extra words do describe the source of the gemstone, and it is a real stone, but often times these descriptive terms can be deceptive, and the sellers are really hoping you just won't notice that it's not the real deal that they are selling.  Often times, the descriptive word is a country name.

There are literally hundreds of descriptive terms to advertise fake gemstones but here is a list of some common ones:

Emeralds can be described as African emerald (really green flourite), Bohemian emerald (green flourspar, or Chatham Emerald (actually synthetic emerald)

Rubies are misdescribed in many inventive ways, when they are actually garnets or other stones.  One might find Siberian Rubies (tourmaline), Montana Ruby, Australian Ruby, California Ruby, Cape Ruby (all garnets), or Adelaide Ruby (Australian garnets.)

Jade, the good luck gemstone can be misdescribed as Colorado Jade (feldspar), Manchurian Jade and Honan Jade (both soapstone), and Indian Jade (adventurine)

And Diamonds - the king of gemstones - are often times guartz in disguise.  They can be described as German Diamonds, and Bohemian Diamonds, which are twp forms of quartz.

There are hundreds of others for sapphires, opals, pearls, turquoise and lapis.  A quick search of google with the term can often give you additional information.  As always, it helps to be prepared when shopping for jewelry that is expensive, and always purchase from trusted suppliers.

There are many markings to be found on vintage jewelry - designer names, sizes, and the sometimes confusing gold karat markings.  Are you confused?  What is K or karat, a mark often found on gold jewelry?

What is K?  Quite simply it stand for karat, which is simply a unit of measure for purity.  It should not be confused with carat, which is abbreviated ct. and which applies to weight and is based on the metric system.

Gold is a very soft metal and needs to be combined with another harder metal to be worked into jewelry or other objects.  The finished product will still be gold, but not 100% pure gold.

The term karat will tell you how much gold is present.   With gold prices at an all time high, it's important to know how much actual gold is in the piece in question.  The difference in price between 10k, the lowest purity that gold can be and still be considered gold, and 18k, the highest purity of gold jewelry commonly available, can be significant. Gold designated as 10 karats is less than half gold. (Much older antique UK gold is marked 9K).  Eighteen karat gold is 75 percent gold. Twelve karat gold is half gold and half another metal or metals.

When you are talking about carats, you would be talking about the weight of a piece.  One carat is 200 milligrams or seven-thousands of an ounce.  It is often used to describe the weight of a precious stone such as a diamond or ruby.

So simply put, karat = purity and carat = weight.

The easiest way to know the amount of pure metal in your jewelry piece is to look at the stamp that is inside the ring and divide by twenty four. The following gives an indication of the markings that one might find and what they mean for purity:

• 24K / 24 =100% pure
• 18K / 24 = 75% pure
• 14K / 24 = 58.33% pure
• 10K / 24 = 41.66% pure

Which should you buy?  Well, it all depends on your lifestyle.  The higher the purity, (24K) the more valuable the piece will be, BUT, the softer it will also be, so you will just need to wear it with more care.  If you are tough on your jewelry, then a lower karat might be more suitable.

If karat and carat weren't confusing enough, what about the markings HGE, GF, GP?  HGE stands for hard gold electroplate, GF stands for gold filled, and GP stands for gold plated.  In each case, the jewelry would be mainly another alloy with either filling, plating or electroplating with a small amount of gold.  These jewelry items are better than gold toned costume jewelry but no where near as valuable as pure gold in the karat form.

Historian and Art Director, Hayden Peters, recently spoke with Collector's weekly and discussed hair jewelry and spoke about how mourning jewelry differs from sentimental jewelry.

Hayden is based in Australia and has a website called The Art of Mourning where he discusses mourning, memorial and sentimental jewellery, funeralia and art.

In the interview, Mr Peters talks about his personal collection of mourning jewelry and discusses the elements of hair jewelry, mourning jewelry, and other types of sentimental jewelry, as well as cultural influences which are reflected in both types.  The interview is very comprehensive and gives a lot of information about this area of collecting.

Collectors or mourning jewelry look for Victorian pieces which originated in the UK, so I found it interesting when Hayden talked about how prevalent mourning jewelry is in antique stores in countries like Czechoslovakia.

For more information about hair jewelry you can read the whole interview with Hayden Peters at Collector's weekly.

Photo courtesy http://artofmourning.com

Swarovski is known for their fabulous rhinestones.  Many jewelry designers use swaravski crystals in their designs and these pieces are often high in demand.

The company is recently showing more and more products with marcasites as a focal point. Many Swarovski pieces use black gemstones, since these go so well with all fashion choices, so it's no surprise to see marcasites being used in their designs now.

The ring shown here is one such design.  It is made by Ponchi jewelry and features a large round top with gemstones and the lower part of the setting is covered with marcasites.

Marcasites have been long used in vintage jewelry.  It has the same composition as pyrite (also known as fool's Gold) but has a different chemical structure. It is a gunmetal gray color with a shiny finish and is inserted in the same was as a rhinestone is.

Vintage Jewelry Lane has a few marcasite designs.  Here is a pretty butterfly pin set in sterling silver with marcasite accents.  It is a real bargain at only $16.99.

The Collector's Weekly has a page on their website which has interviews with varioius personalities in the vintage jewelry world.  One of the latest interviews is with Elyse Karlin - publisher and editor-in-chief of “Adornment, The Magazine of Jewelry and Related Arts”.

In the interview, Karlin gives her impressions of the influence of women in the movement and also discusses the difference in styles between the British and American Arts and Crafts designers.

The Arts and Crafts movement is generally thought to have been during the years  1890 to 1920, although the movement itself started earlier in England - influenced greatly by William Morris.  The movement spread to other countries in Great Britain, including Scotland and Ireland, and then to Europe and Scandinavia before reaching the U. S. in the late 1890s.

Prior to this time, women wore corsets and stays which resulted in very form fitting clothing which was tight at the waist and neck.  The clothing designers during the Arts and Crafts period opted for very soft, flowing clothing and the jewelry styles of this time went well with this type of clothing design.

It is hard to define the look of jewelry of this time, but basically a great deal of the jewelry was inspired by nature and organic forms. Leaves, flowers and birds were common motifs. The piece shown here is typical,  It is an opal, pearl, and gold pendant by Archibald Knox, featuring pearls and turquoise in a fish design.

You can read the whole interview with Elyse Karlin on this page of the Collector's weekly website.