Ivory Pool Ball?????
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I am no expert, but here are a few thoughts.
Ivory has natural grain patterns, and old ivory balls will show crazing, or cracking. Sometimes you can even see where the nerve of the tusk (hollow center) collapsed down to solid by seeing a small black area on the ball.
Get on ebay and search for ivoy pool ball and compare what you see to what you have.
There is a test you can do with a hot straight pin, but I think you usually don't have to resort to such matters.
Kelly
Ivory has natural grain patterns, and old ivory balls will show crazing, or cracking. Sometimes you can even see where the nerve of the tusk (hollow center) collapsed down to solid by seeing a small black area on the ball.
Get on ebay and search for ivoy pool ball and compare what you see to what you have.
There is a test you can do with a hot straight pin, but I think you usually don't have to resort to such matters.
Kelly
help said:
It's Junk..................
Send it to me, and you won't have to worry about it anymore.
Can anyone tell me how to tell if a ball is ivory?
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I've *heard* that ivory is flourescent(sp?) under a black light.
I have never tried yet, but intend too for my own personal knowledge.
Dave
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I've *heard* that ivory is flourescent(sp?) under a black light.
I have never tried yet, but intend too for my own personal knowledge.
Dave
help said:
If you take a good picture of the balls we could probably tell you if it's ivory. You're usually looking for grain lines, some checking, and some yellowing.
You should see the ivory grains in the picture, but know that sometimes the grains are not nearly as pronounced as it is in that joint.
-Roger
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buddha162 said:
Like mentioned by Roger, checking for the grain lines and the off-white coloring is the best way to verify.
If the grain lines are not obvious and conclusive, Kelly mentions a test done by antique dealers. They will light a wooden match, heat up a straight pin held in pliers and firmly touch the item in question. If it smells like burnt hair it's ivory if it smells like plastic - well you know not so good. The burn test will leave a very small scorched spot so it's usually located in the most obscure area.
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BarenbruggeCues said:
Gil Grissom could put it in the Mass Spec Anaylizer
I know...I know...I've been watching to much CSI.
CaptainHook said:Gil Grissom could put it in the Mass Spec Anaylizer
I know...I know...I've been watching to much CSI.
The only problem with that is that you have to vaporize the material, meaning of course that you'd have to take a biopsy or something of the ball.
When I was stationed in Togo Africa we would hold suspect items over a lighter. Ivory won't burn. Pull a bic out and a fruadelent peddler would run away.
zeeder said:
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh that's not Good.
Just take it down to the local Pool hall and ask any oldtimer.
zeeder said:Just out of curiosity, and for future reference, what is the most obscure part of a sphere?
Z
You could cut the ball in half and perform the test on the inside of it.
Just glue back together when done...........the burn spot will never show!
Dave
A real ivory pool ball will look very, very different from any pool ball you have seen in a pool hall. It is almost certain to have a lot of hair-line cracks with chalk in them. If the ball has numbers, they will likely be engraved. If the ball has color left, it will likely be faded and spotty.help said:
Towards the end of his life, Willie signed many, many plastic pool balls. If he had signed any ivory ball, it almost certainly would come in its own hardwood and glass box. Unsigned ivory pool balls sell for about $300 each, and a set is $5000 to $10,000.
It's possible that Willie signed some clay balls, which also look different from any modern ball, but they are only worth about $5-$10 each, even in pretty good condition. They may also have lots of cracks, but with very different patterns from ivory. Some very fancy clay balls sell for over $100 each, but they are not common.
chiefseabee said:
My brother lived on the west coast of Africa for several years working for an oil company. The test they did was to stretch a human hair tightly across the piece they were testing and then touch the hair with a lit match. The hair will not burn. He showed me and I've shown others on several occasions with pieces he brought back and gave me. You just have to touch the hair to satisfy yourself as you know a hair will frizzle in a second when touched by a match.
Solartje said:anyone can see if this white cb in the picture is ivory?
Not ivory, probably clay.
It is not hard to spot ivory balls... again...old ivory balls will have quite a bit of crazing. They are sort of like cracks, but show up more like veins running around the ball in grain patterns.
Kelly
Solartje said:thx kelly
is it just me or do you all love antique pool stuff? some good old clay balls , all beaten up, just beautifull!
I wish I had the spare change to buy some old pool memorabilia and equipment. I find it all pretty cool.
Here is a pic of an ivory ball from ebay. It even shows the black spot I mentioned that I believe was the ending point of the nerve cavity.
Kelly
