Salt water test method: the density of amber beeswax is between 1.05- 1. 10. In 1: 4 (salt: water) saturated brine, amber, light plastic and resin can float, while ordinary plastic, glass, acrylic and bakelite can sink. (Reminder: This method is limited to naked amber. Amber with a lot of impurities in the body will sink if the salt water concentration is not heavy enough. )

Temperature test: the needle is burned in an inconspicuous place of amber beeswax, with a faint pine fragrance. Bakelite and plastic smell pungent and stick to needles. Reminder: Too hot will leave black spots on the surface of amber beeswax, which will affect the appearance)

Knife cutting needle test: amber will be pulverized when it is cut by paper cutter, resin will fall off in pieces, plastic will be rolled, and glass will not be cut. When you flush amber with a hard needle at an angle of 20-30 degrees from the horizontal line, you will feel explosive and there will be extremely fine powder residue. If it is plastic or other substances with different hardness, it will not stick, or it will feel sticky, or even stick in. Reminder: This test will damage your jewelry. If you pick out the cut part, you can only find a professional to repair it. It is best not to do or do less, so as not to damage amber beeswax. )

Nail polish washing liquid: wipe the surface of amber beeswax repeatedly with a cotton swab, with no obvious change. Plastics, pressure and amber beeswax have not changed, but resin and Keba butter will be corroded because they are not petrified, resulting in sticking pits. Rosin will melt slowly when it is soaked in liquid medicine. (Reminder: Some amber beeswax has a layer of polishing substance, which will turn into white spots when wiped with liquid medicine. However, this layer of white spots can be scraped off with a nail shell to expose the amber surface, and rubbing liquid medicine on it will not change anything. Syrup still has 18%-20% solubility in amber beeswax, and the surface may become foggy after soaking for a long time)

Handle: Amber beeswax is a neutral organic gem, which is not very hot in summer and not too cold in winter, and it is very gentle. Use glass or chalcedony to prevent feeling cold and heavy.

Visual inspection: This is the most important method to identify amber inlay. There are usually beautiful lotus leaf scales in amber beeswax. From different angles, they have different feelings, different refractions, and emit spiritual light. The transparency of fake amber beeswax is generally not high, and the scales emit dead light, which is similar from different angles and lacks the aura of amber beeswax. The scales and patterns in fake amber are mostly injection molded, so most of them are the same. The most common one on the market is the red scale.

Bubbles: The bubbles in amber beeswax are mostly round, while the bubbles in pressed amber are mostly long and flat.

Ultraviolet radiation: put amber beeswax under the money detector, it will have fluorescence, light green, green, blue, white and so on. Amber, Jin Po, funnel, green funnel and blue pearl are the most obvious discoloration, while blood funnel and beeswax are not obvious discoloration. The more transparent it is, the more obvious it is, and the plastic will not change color. (Reminder: Don't test under strong light or the effect will not be obvious. )

Aroma: Amber beeswax has only a faint smell, and it can hardly be smelled when rubbed, or it can't be smelled at all, but amber beeswax with skin will produce fragrance when rubbed, and Xiangpo friction will produce fragrance. Amber beeswax only gives off a loose fragrance when it burns. (Reminder: The amber beeswax on the stall is also very fragrant without rubbing. It's better to just watch and not buy. )

Sound test: Amber beeswax beads without inlay will make a very soft and slightly dull sound when rubbed gently in your hands. If they are plastic or resin, the sound will be crisp.

Friction with static electricity: Amber beeswax can attract small pieces of paper after rubbing on clothes.

The identification method of ivory is as follows

Ivory teeth lines are unique, often criss-crossing herringbone lines, so it is difficult to imitate them if they are fake.

First, the basic characteristics of ivory

The chemical composition of ivory is hydroxyapatite and organic matter. The ratio of the two is roughly 65:35.

Ivory is generally curved and angular, and almost half of it is hollow. The cross section of ivory is mostly round and nearly round, and its diameter varies with varieties, growing periods and parts. The cross-sectional diameter of the same ivory gradually increases from the cusp to the root.

The cross section of ivory has a characteristic "Retzius" texture, that is, a diamond pattern formed by the intersection of two sets of interlaced texture lines at an angle greater than 1 15 degrees or less than 65 degrees.

In addition, the cross section of ivory has a layered structure with clear boundaries, which is generally divided into four layers from outside to inside:

Layer I is a dense or concentric layer.

The second layer is a thick "Retzius" line layer, with a large included angle of grain lines, which can reach about 124 degrees, and a wide spacing of grain lines, which is about1-2.5 mm. ..

The third layer is a thin "Retzius" line layer, and the included angle of the lines is smaller than that of the second layer, with an average of about 120 degrees, and the spacing between the lines is very narrow, about 0.1-0.5 mm. ..

Ⅳ layer is dense or hollow.

There are almost parallel small lines on the longitudinal section of ivory.

When ivory is fresh, its color is white, milky white, porcelain white and light rose white, and prehistoric ivory is often blue.

Ivory has a beautiful and soft oily luster, mostly slightly transparent to translucent. The refractive index is 1.54, the hardness is only about 2.5, the specific gravity is usually 1.85, and the fracture surface is cracked and serrated. White-blue to blue-purple fluorescence from weak to strong under long and short wavelength ultraviolet light.

Ivory has excellent toughness.

2. Optimum treatment of ivory

1. bleaching treatment:

It is to soak the ivory that turns yellow or has a yellow tone for a long time in an oxidizing solution such as hydrogen peroxide to remove the yellow, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the grade and value of ivory. Bleaching is a necessary optimization treatment for most ivory.

2. Dyeing treatment:

Dyeing is to soak the ivory with unsatisfactory color in various dyes to get the desired color.

Three. Identification of common imitations

1. Bone products:

Dense bone products are similar to ivory in appearance, refractive index and specific gravity, but their structures are different. Animal bones have hollow tubular structures, and the cross sections of these tubules are circular or oval, and the longitudinal sections are linear. These structures are more obvious when dirt seeps into the hollow pipe.

2. Dumping palm fruit:

Growing in South America and Africa, the skin is brown and the hard shell inside is egg-sized, white or protein-colored. Its hardness, refractive index and fluorescence characteristics are similar to ivory, but its cross section is honeycomb, its longitudinal section is parallel and thick, and there are cell structures in the lines. The proportion of nuts is about 1.4, which is lower than that of ivory.

Soaked in sulfuric acid, ivory will not fade, while nuts are rosy and easy to dye. Nuts have better toughness than ivory, and can be cut with a blade, which is easy to process.

3. Plastic:

Celluloid is the most common and effective ivory imitation material. In order to imitate the stripes on the longitudinal section of ivory, plastic is pressed into thin slices, but this stripe is much more regular than ivory, and it can not produce "Retzius" pattern.

Four. Quality evaluation of ivory

Ivory with rare color or pure white, translucent, dense and tough texture, fine lines and high quality is the best product, while ivory with yellow color, small block and loose structure has low value and even lost jewelry value.

Generally speaking, ivory produced in Africa is fine in texture and fine in section. In Asia, the texture is loose and soft, and the color tends to turn yellow.