I used to work for a museum and the hot pin is the test historians use to this day to verify natural or synthetic material.knife7knut wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:01 pmDO NOT USE a hot needle to test whether it is tortoise shell or not! That is like using acid on a knife to see whether it is made of gold. Examine the blades and handles under a loupe and if it is tortoise shell you can usually see a,"layering" effect similar to a wood grain but more subtle.blade objective wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:31 pm I've seen friction folder letter openers with tortoise shell blades but I could be wrong from not knowing the size of the instruments.
To test whether the tortoise shell is real heat a needle or pin with a flame and touch it to an inconspicuous area.
If it smells like skin or hair burning it's real. If it smells like plastic burning then it's synthetic.
"Ear Wax spoon" yuck.....
From what I can see of them,there appear to be two that have ivory handles with tortoise blades and the one with the tortoise handles looks to have blades made of bone.The Haversian canals are readily visible.
I have a couple of these that are very cheaply made from Czechoslovakia but yours are NOT cheaply made.If I had to guess I would say they may have been made in England or possibly Austria.
I've done the test many times without damaging the historic piece.
Those bone canals can be and are faked all the time with restoring an antique piece and you can't tell the difference without the pin test.
It is the most effective,cheap and reliable way to tell authenticity of natural animal products used years ago.
What is a "loupe" and how do you look under it?
