Featured Id an ivory tool long 26.5 cm

Hello friends,

I found this item in a lot that I bought at an auction house
long and flat, the length is 26.5 cm.
Intrigued by the martular material, I brought it from a relative who is a jeweler and told me that it is 100% ivory.
He did a very strange test for me: he took a pin and put it on the flame of a lighter for a few seconds. Then he placed it on the ivory object and "sniffed" the point
Do i have to worry for him ?
But he, like me, does not know absolutely what it is, for what use it was created.
To me it looks like a tool, maybe a shoehorn? But then I also think that it is too fragile to be.
On the surface there were 3 different adhesive labels with numbers, they are the ones that use the auction houses to catalog the objects.
I understand that this object has traveled from one auction house to another, up to the undersigned
I proceeded to remove them, but I have to work better, as the glue below and some fragments of paper still can be seen on the surface, especially the red marker, which has passed the paper and "touched" the ivory.
With a good cleaning, I will surely be able to remove everything.
Returning to my main question, could you help me identify the object and possibly date it?
The object is slightly curved at the ends
I know it's hard, which is why I ask you

Thank you all

 

I believe the 'hot needle test' is to see if it melts....and is plastic.....and smells......Kind of looks like it COULD be straight out of a Victorian Ladies corset, to me, but ALWAYS possible I'm wrong, too !! Plenty of other potentials!!

 

Page turner, it's missing its handle...

~Cheryl

 

Page turner/paper knife, probably had a silver embellishment at one time.

 

thanks a lot !!!

In which period could we date it ?

 

Probably Victorian, from the oxidation and the fact that it's ivory. Pre-WWII at any rate.

 

Thanks, could we say something like a Uk Victorian late 19th Century Ivory page turner ?

 

what about a doctor's tongue depressor ?

 

Hard to be sure where it came from originally without the hallmarked bits.

 

you're right : better to remove the terms "uk" keeping "Victorian" only

 

interesting ... i did not think about it

but i was noticing that in the photos 8,9,10 there are diagonal and parallel scratches, typical of constant and identical rubbing, resulting from a movement that is always the same, so the page turner option seems to me to be excellent. But also your statement is not to be underestimated

 

after having taken a double-meter and held it before my belly - I can only say with all certainty that it can't be for a corset, because that poor doll couldn't have had any breasts

 

You may want to rearch this company a bit for dating, looks like a perfect fit, give or take about 5-10cm considering the handle.

 

Wow, it's the same
Thanks a lot!

 

Hi Gianluca,
PLEASE do not ever use the "hot pin" test. If ivory you do not need the the test. If it was celluloid or some other plastic it would be ruined by the test. I have seen several serious burns given to people from the test. Certain plastics ignite and burn quickly. I have seen many plastic pieces with burn holes ruined by the test.
greg

 

Hello dear friends,
I resume the discussion because I put this page Turner up for sale and a very nice user wrote me a message on ebay in which according to his point of view it is not a page turner but something else ... I paste his message with the aim of being able to better understand with you what it is and what you think also because his point of view contrasts a little with yours.
Then only after reading your updated points of view I will eventually change my description Thank you very much for the help. Gianluca.

" Hi.

Please do not be offended but this was not intended as a page turner. Such things are extremely rare - See Google The phantom page turner.

This is a page cutter/paper knife from the time when books and newspapers sill had some of the pages joined at the edges. It was inserted along the fold to free them.

I still have some of the books my father 'cut' and can remember one of these (though not as nice as yours) in public libraries next to the daily papers.

I hope this helps.

Judith "

@DragonflyWink
@mmarco102
@Any Jewelry
@Christmasjoy
@i need help
@gregsglass

 

Your guy is absolutely right! Page cutter it is
They are wrongly but widely called page turner, so, the term is in all listings...

 

Spot on. They are indeed often called page turners, but are actually page splitters.

 

Ivory on ebay?

 

Thought the same thing. I’ve seen people use ‘bony’ and just ‘bone’.