More beads

Here is a small pair of earrings studs, another thrift find. Slightly off white, they don’t look like plastic to me but I can’t tell if this is bone or some type of stone. One of them has a small flat spot which I’ve tried to photograph. I’ve gotten these pictures as close as I can, I haven’t tested the metal for this pair yet. Any thoughts on what they are made of?

 

I'm pretty sure those are mother of pearl. The shell can get pretty thick.
Might be gold or gold-filled. I'm guessing gold-filled if it's mother of pearl.

 

I didn’t even think of mother of pearl. I’m used to associating some type of iridescence and these have none. I guess that's another possibility!

 

I would have guessed ivory.

 

I thought that was a patch of lighter mother of pearl tone in the first image, but maybe not.

@Jivvy ivory was my initial thought, too, but I don't see schreger lines...

 

MoP is more likely. I'm not seeing ivory.

 

Tried taking pictures with my loupe. I don’t think it’s ivory because of the “layers”?

 

I got stuck working the costume jewelry counter in the mid 1980s.
These little ball posts were VERY popular.
Made in onyx, agates, jades, tiger eye, ivory, etc. Not MOP.

My first reaction was ivory. If they are cold to your face, then stone. Most likely some type of onyx or agate

 

Those striations look like my backgammon pips which are Mexican onyx.

 

Not cold or even cool to the touch. I thought stone too but your right, it would be colder.

 

Elephant ivory. Not all of it is cut on the cross hatching grain.

 

My first reaction was ivory. Then MOP. Then back to ivory.

Ivory:

MOP:

Unless Celluloid, which I very much doubt:

Ivory only shows Schreger lines where it is cut across the grain. On the beads, they might show around the drill holes, if there is enough surface there to see them. Ivory studs were not uncommon in the 60s.

 

the lines seem to meander......not ivory.

 

Look at the circular nature of the lines... a sign of ivory.

 

yes...



not so much....

once again......if i had em in my hand..........but i don't..

 

I like "onyx." But I could be wrong.

 

Those clearly show the cross hatching.....I have to drag some of my ivory out. Will be back.

 

The lines meander: ivory not Celluloid. When cut along the length of the tusk, the striations give the impression of being parallel, but lines are in short segments, far from regular. Long, unbroken, very parallel lines are a sign of artificial material. As I said, the beads used for the earrings may show Shreger lines around the drill hole & on the opposite end; we only have side view.

Grain the long way:



Cross section: