Elephant Pearl

[knotty panda]

Blaire: The polariscope testing may have been used to rule out other materials.
Slraep: The date of the report is recent. Perhaps there's some sort of red tape that assigns the report number later and a full copy is provided at that time. Just speculating here. Regardless, we have names, numbers, addresses, and e-mails. Got Skype?

 

[Caitlin]

That is an interesting mammoth speculation. The flame pattern or whatever it would be called in these examples is similar. The tusks also vary, not only by species, but by what minerals are part of the ossification process and how they were deposited. That would also explain why cut facets into an elephant pearl?

Has any body ever heard of thunderstones? They are stones found in trees hit by lightning or so the story goes. They also look a lot like stone age axes which is their apparent origin. Nevertheless, a found or inherited thunderstone is a sacred object in which case the science is irrelevant and the myth means all.

There are a number of stones that look like ancient stone axes found on this continent. But, there is a magic date beyond which no humans lived on the American continents. Period, end of sentence. It was 10,000 years when I was in college 45 years ago. And that date held firm in the face of increasing evidence to the contrary. Now the date is 25,000 years or something, but it is still where the line in the sand is drawn. Try to prove the date might be really, really old, over here and you are not only only kicked out of the PhD program, you become a laughing stock. I knew a guy who tried. He even got a few copies of a book published that stayed in circulation for a brief time, but he is still disavowed by most.

I swear that rock my son found is an old stone ax...........

 

[GemGeek]

Blaire: The polariscope testing may have been used to rule out other materials.
Slraep: The date of the report is recent. Perhaps there's some sort of red tape that assigns the report number later and a full copy is provided at that time. Just speculating here. Regardless, we have names, numbers, addresses, and e-mails. Got Skype?

FYI - Spectroscopy could read a reflection off the surface of an opaque substance, but a polariscope is only of use if a stone has some degree of transparency.

 

[Valeria101]

The patches of color do not remind me of mammoth ivory. Has anyone seen mammoth ivory with such colors? I am used with even tans and brown...

Curious- what are the limitations and conditions recorded on the back of the certificate?

Hm... good Q. Usually lab reports come with no guarantees... as statements of opinion. Couldn't imagine this one to be different (if so, good for them). But if they do no better then the dismal 'norm' that doesn't mean anything, does it...

I see the "in the trade" as a caveat.

Yes... but again, this formulation is commonly used on reputable lab reports, to state that the object meets a certain quality recognized by the market but not necessarily quantifiable. Example: on the lab report of a sapphire you may read 'pink-orange' as color, Sri Lanka as origin and the note saying 'sapphires such and such are called 'Padparadscha in the trade'. It is just the usual way to deal with these all important, historic categories. If they did the same for the elephant pearl... no surprise, it even happens to the best of them!

CIBJO is prepared to analyse rubies for their natural origin and has standards to do so and definitively tell them from treated or fake (made by human hands) stones. I doubt they have a standard for this object that meets their own criteria for authenticity.

CIBJO doesn't analyze anything, the standards of disclosure are based on member's research, practice... Sure enough, I wonder what standards apply to this certificate! So unusual! Not surprised though - not every gem comes with specific standards of disclosure.

But those are details. The question remains.

I wish I'd know these details, and they should be in those CIBJO manuals. Which and how they apply to this particular report, that's interesting too.

I wish I'd know what the certifying lab understands elephant pearls should be. This information should be available somewhere... just not online.

I wish I knew how many such certificates they issue... Are these rare enough to count like that? Is this the only? Are there too mnay to count? Who knows...

For the more common and researched gems, one can even get a rather good idea of the methodology used for identification - what each test is used for etc. With no published research on elephant pearls... no idea what it is done and what for.

Wonder how many gemologists would know what to look for in these things. But it shouldn't be that far fetched to assume most would know to say what it is NOT: i.e. not a cut of ivory, modern or fossil, not another kind of bone and not man-made... I would imagine that at least such test by elimination is straightforward. And the experience of the lab with this particular type of precious material did the rest - a positive ID. Doesn't sound far fetched. If the lab is somewhat off the beaten track, it doesn't mean their methods are too.

It is unfortunate that so little public information exists about these objects, that otherwise have no reason to be of direct interest to more but very few individuals. Frankly, what else is new: most folks never see top examples of even the mainstream 'big four' unless in a public collection. Where should one go to learn what elephant pearls look like? Probably it isn't even important to popularize them given their particular market. It doens't seem like anyone bothered to promote them so far.And that is understandable too...

Wrote what and where from I know just to point to how HUGE the GAPS are. LOTS of room of skepticim... Unfortunately, I'd say. Which probably makes me put extra effort in keeping an open mind.


I can't say there's no such thing because it didn't appear in G&G yet, LOL As far as I remember, this is the first such object with a claim for authenticity backed by a credible third party, that came forth here. Quite the surprise!

After all, gemological laboratories are not known for allot of inter-disciplinary research with the natural sciences irrelevant for mineral gems: I mean, even when it comes to pearls and coral - the usual precious organics. You just don't see allot of papers written by biologists for GIA and AGS and what not. Even if there is a wealth of technical research about these in other fields (zoology, marine biology, ecology, materials science, whatever).

If that's bad... what to expect for mammal pearls that are both extremely uncommon on the jewelry scene and only relevant to some obscure niche of biology and/or veterinary medicine (methinks)!

Maybe it should appear in G&G. It wouldn't hurt for that honorable publication to develop an inter-cultural streak. Seriously.

Just a thought...

 

[tacy_cc]

From a humble jewelry designer's point of view and "Dumbo" fan, I'd hate to think that these pearls would grow any demand from the jewelry industry side. It makes it too tempting to harvest live elephants, especially in places where they aren't treated so well...unless we have an international roster of soon-to-die-sick elephants in our hands, I would leave those mammoth cutesies alone- ivory, pearls and all. Unless we "farm" elephants with the intention of waiting to replace one every 50 years..Visiting the recent Hong Kong jewelry and watch fair, i was astounded by the number of conch pearls on display. Makes me think that they must be farming those critters now too. No offense meant to anyone who admires their beauty and cultural or ritualistic significance.

 

[Slraep]

..unless we have an international roster of soon-to-die-sick elephants in our hands, I would leave those mammoth cutesies alone- ivory, pearls and all. Unless we "farm" elephants with the intention of waiting to replace one every 50 years..

That's funny---the elephant farming.

Lately, the biggest illegal ivory seizures have been stuff coming into the U.S., of all places!! Who still buys that?? There is also a brisk trade in China, Japan and Thailand. Unbelieivable. Such magestic creatures, thier gestation period of 640-645 days is quite awesome.

It's pretty near impossible to distinguish illegal ivory from the so-called legal one.

Slraep

 

[Slraep]

The patches of color do not remind me of mammoth ivory. Has anyone seen mammoth ivory with such colors? I am used with even tans and brown...

Actually, yes, yes I have, striations of tri-colour are very sought after. And unless I am going blind or something, here is another example of it. Wooly mammoth knife handles. Mammoth ivory is considered as fossilized, hence it would be classified as a fossil or stone. It is pretty much non-porous.

http://www.danchinnock.com/gallery.htm

Slraep

 

[Caitlin]

Dang. this has turned into another interesting and deep exchange.

Thanks for your input Ana, shows you what I know.

So I am back to who can indentify something from the root of an elephant's tusk? Probably a pachyderm specialist, or someone who can identify substances. Because it maybe be from an elephant, but it might be plant ivory, a mammoth fossil or any of many things it would appear a jewery lab is not the place to go.

Too bad the CIBJO certificate is virtually worthless. What is CIBJO good for? I would think they could tell a fake from an authentic stone. These places are described as labs. What do the labs do? I am puzzled. I guess I had some kind of idealist view of what they do. I would think they could try to identify something or at least put an object like this in context. How can they tell what a given object is? The information they got from the owner?

 

[jshepherd]

I feel as though I recall Grahame Brown of "The Australian Gemologist" publishing an account of identifying "elephant pearls". They turned out to be rounded molars.

Just found this as well.

[FONT=helvetica,arial,sans-serif]Elephant pearl (= elephant tusk pearl = ivory pearl = Gaja mini) - roughly spherical masses, made up of concentric layers of dentine deposited on a "foreign body" nuclei, formed within some elephants' tusks; these "pearls," which are noted here only because they are marketed as ivory pearls some places, are usually found in tusks of elephants who have been sick or have damaged tusks (Robert Weisblut, personal communication, 2006).[/FONT]

 

[Slraep]

So I am back to who can indentify something from the root of an elephant's tusk? Probably a pachyderm specialist, or someone who can identify substances. Because it maybe be from an elephant, but it might be plant ivory, a mammoth fossil or any of many things it would appear a jewery lab is not the place to go.

A lab can easily distinguish if it is vegetable ivory(tagua??). That they can rule out, or identify, for sure. The vegetable matter would be a type of nut, I think, and is very waxy compared to fossilized ivory.

Slraep

 

[Slraep]

For elephant ivory in general---it varies.



Makeup: 65-70% hydroxyapatite Ca5(Po4)3OH, plus collagen and elastin protiens

Crystal system: none, amorphous

Refractive Index: 1.54

Hardness: 2.5 - 2.75

Toughness: fair

Specific Gravity: 1.70 - 2.0

Cleavage: none

Fracture: splintery

UV Reaction: fluoresces weakly to strongly bluish white to LW, less to SW

Luster: greasy

 

[Slraep]

I feel as though I recall Grahame Brown of "The Australian Gemologist" publishing an account of identifying "elephant pearls". They turned out to be rounded molars.

Just found this as well.

Hi Jeremy,

Usually the dentin growths of modern elephants are of one colour. And a good lab?? would probably not classify them as a stone. The only way to get different colours in ivory would be by dyeing it, or if the minerals in the bone have been modified(additional minerals absorbed from prolonged contact with soil), such as occurs with fossilization. So only fossilization can give natural colours such as yellow, orange and tan. Distinct colours like that are highly prized.

The specimen in question seems to be a huge, beautiful and rare tri-coloured, hand or mechanically cut, hunk of woolly mammoth ivory. And if sold as such will probably fetch a much higher price than a mythical "elephant pearl". I'll bet my own "elephant pearl" on it.

It could be tested with some heat to see if the whole thing turns a turquoise blue but I don't think Mr. Luv is going to go for that.

Slraep

 

[Caitlin]

I hope luv stays with this. It would be great to establish what elephant pearls are. I think he is doing science and the world of knowledge a great favor to show us this and let us question it. Luv's E-pearl is so different than the tan eggs we have seen before-

I believe it is an elephant pearl. What I am questoning is what is an elephant pearl made from and it is natural or manufactured?

Is there variety in elephant pearls? Or a variety of objects termed elephant pearls?

How much credence can be given to the elephant pearls obtained through Bezoar dealers?

I just like having all this info and speculation pulled together and at least some questions answered.

 

[Valeria101]

Too bad the CIBJO certificate is virtually worthless. What is CIBJO good for? I would think they could tell a fake from an authentic stone. These places are described as labs. What do the labs do? I am puzzled. I guess I had some kind of idealist view of what they do.

No... CIBJO is simply an association, not a lab. Doesn't do reports. Gathers input from major gemological laboratories to set common disclosure standards (approx.). Does not enforce anything.

Wouldn't call gemological 'paper' worthless - it isn't. But there are disappointing aspects... especially if one expects to price objects based on the 'paper' alone, or if one insists on certainty and binding guarantees rather then an authoritative statement. These are 'reports' not 'certificates'.

Not too bad when you think of it, but not the best state of affairs when it comes to controversial, extremely unusual objects such as this. Wouldn't know what on earth would be on a lab report of a ... dried pea! And I am amazed enough to have read one for an elephant pearl! There are boundaries to what can be submitted to these labs, but not very strict boundaries - that's why I would want to know whether there are more or less numerous lab reports issued for elephant pearls. If there are enough, it simply means that the standards applied are precise and relatively safe. If this is very exceptional paper, it simply needs more effort to read right... Example: lab reports of red diamonds do not typically agree on ... color. Everybody knows how to deal with this. But what to do about elephant pearls? Are they as rare? Should their lab reports be interpreted in a similar manner? Dunno...


Otherwise, they do good, the labs: write down an authoritative opinion about precious things: nature, treatments, sometimes origin. Quality aspects (color, say, as in the Pad example) tend to be contentious so that's where all sorts of small print applies... but a few labs do offer such information in their reports, more or less optionally. It is becoming trendy. 'Hot potato' issues may be handled with notes such as this 'typically called in the trade' etc.

Phew! Never tried to sum up what labs do in a sentence. Maybe I should try ....

Just my (limited) understanding of things. I don't have any more exotic source then the publications of said labs themselves and a few rather well known stories about them... No insider's secret or anything.

 

[Valeria101]

I feel as though I recall Grahame Brown of "The Australian Gemologist" publishing an account of identifying "elephant pearls". They turned out to be rounded molars.

Quite unfortunate, but that's all in Gem press - evidence of a petty fake. Not terribly useful for generalization, is it...

I wonder how many science people of any discipline would know details about elephant teeth to give an independent opinion on these pearls and what their identifying characteristics should be

 

[Slraep]

Hmmmmmmmm.

 

[Valeria101]

Thanks for the fossil ivory examples, Slraep! Quite awesome material... didn't know it can be so interesting. That's great! (the colors, not the skull, LOL!)

 

[Slraep]

Ana, this carving has to be quite small. It's fossilized walrus ivory. Not a human fossilized skull---as I had hoped at first glance!

Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

I found one. This article examined “pearls” that were determined to be cortical bone, but as you can see from the conclusion the author mentions many different materials that have been portrayed as “elephant pearls” in the past, molars included.

For the google-geeks out there, I am taking this straight from the journal (hence the credit below), so I doubt you will find it online. Well, Valeria101 might.

Brown G. (2006) Another imitation elephant pearl. The Australian Gemologist, Vol. 22, No. 12, pp. 556-557.

Abstract
Artifacts purchased in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, which were claimed to be either “elephant pearls” or “bamboo pearls”, have been shown to be man-made objects that were manufactured from dense mammalian cortical bone. The identifying features of this biological gem material are presented in this paper.
… article body …

Conclusion
Carved and polished mammalian cortical bone can now be added to the list of materials used in the imitation of much revered elephant pearls (free denticles). This ever-growing list of look-alike materials include elephant ivory, elephant molar teeth, vegetable ivory and several other non ivory materials that have a colour similar to that of the elephant tusk dentine that is known as elephant ivory.

 

[Slraep]

Entertaining read about police corruption and a couple of elephant pearls....

By the way, to echo my anti-ivory/ anti gaja muktha rants on this forum, read about the illegality of owning "elephant pearls".

http://www.tamilstar.com/news/lanka/article_5618.shtml

Slraep