I just picked up an old 32-20 revolver and was wondering how to tell what the grips are made from. They have a 'pearl' look to them and feel like some sort of glass when clinked on something metal. I'll try to get a pic later but you can't tell much from a pic. I think the grips are about 65 to 75 years old.

Steve.........

Take them off, heat a nail to red hot and touch it on the back side of the grip. If it melts, it's plastic. Pearl for all intent and purpose is rock. Ivory is pretty much the same material as teeth and resists burning. Pearl will have pearlessence to light, ivory will not. Ivory also has a grain pattern, like wood but much less defined.

65-75 year old ivory will also have yellowed --

pearl - nice


pearl - CHEAP


likely ivory


GREAT example of one i would use to tell ivory from faux -- this pic, you can clearly see the grain across the bottom of the grips (think cross cut saw)

99% likely to be fake ivory

fake



As Rod says, if it melts, its a plastic -- ivory will stink like burnt hair, if you get it to scorch

"Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl handled pistol."
LTG George S. Patton
When asked about his pearl handled revolvers, both of which are ivory, a Colt SAA and S&W. Both in the Patton Museum.

Schreger lines should be a dead giveaway for ivory. Ivory is amazing stuff, and the grip while wet or damp has to been experienced to be believed. Nothing is close in my opinion.

Right off I know I don't know how to take good pictures, with that being said here they are.









I tried heating a nail red hot and it didn't even leave a mark. When looking at the grips especially on the upper area they have that iridescence to them. I'm sure they are not ivory

Steve.......

That's one very dead oyster ! ! ! ! !

Actually, probably an abalone.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve E.:
Right off I know I don't know how to take good pictures, with that being said here they are.









I tried heating a nail red hot and it didn't even leave a mark. When looking at the grips especially on the upper area they have that iridescence to them. I'm sure they are not ivory

Steve.......

Looks like a plain abalone to me.

"pearl" .. what pistol?

Thanks for the info, I never thought about them being abalone. I guess it is probably the poor mans pearl grips.

Steve......

quote:

Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:


That's one very dead oyster ! ! ! ! !

Actually, probably an abalone.

Not even close.

So is it not abalone or are you just messing with Rod?

Steve.......

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
"Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl handled pistol."
LTG George S. Patton
When asked about his pearl handled revolvers, both of which are ivory, a Colt SAA and S&W. Both in the Patton Museum.

You beat me to it and true enough!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve E.:
So is it not abalone or are you just messing with Rod?

Steve.......

Abalone is typically very colorful and figured , but I believe there can be “lower” grade shells that are similar to the above. Not an expert though.

I don't know why I didn't think of it before but when stationed at the Presidio of Monterey with the Air Force many moons ago I would dive for Abalone a good bit. You are right some shells are quite figured and some were very plain and now looking at and thinking back it is Abalone.

Steve.........

I don't honestly know what they are for sure, other then the fact they must be from some sort of shellfish from your description and the fact they don't melt. I DO KNOW, that my local lapidary supply, where I buy my glue and some small tools carries a lot of large shells for the lettuce eaters to make their jewelry out of. He has oyster shells there the size of my foot that are probably close to 1/2 inch thick but they are always pearl white. He also stocks abalone shells. (I think that's what they are) They have a row of holes in them near the thin edge so I assume they are abalone. The big ones are about 7 inches long and maybe 1/2 inch thick at the best. But they come in all kinds of colors from bone white to black. Lots of them are yellow to gold color and everything in between too. Your pictures show a yellowy gold color and I've never seen a oyster shell that color. So my best guess, is abalone. He also has some of those big clams that Fred Flintstone always gets his foot caught in when he goes swimming. They are about 2 feet across but he wants $500 per side for them, so I can't see people cutting them up to make knife blades and pistol grips from them.

Just for giggles.
He also had a narwhal tusk for a while that was about 7 feet long and about 4 inches at the base. He had $6,500 on it consignment. I put $3,000 in hundred dollar bills on the counter for it one day just to see if he would bite. He didn't. I though about it for a while and went back a month later and put $4,000 on the table. He looked at it for a long time before he said no, so I know I was getting close. Unfortunately, the next time I went in it was sold. I don't honestly know what I needed the damned thing for anyway! LOL


Anybody that would put fish houses on his gun must be pretty cheap or down on his luck. (I just said that to make Tom feel better!) LOL

The Abalone grips came on a Spanish S&W copy in 32-20 about 75 years old. I have seen some big Abalone shells come out of Monterey Bay. Weird how the Narwhal evolved his tooth to look like a Unicorn horn, makes me wonder what would you do with it. LOL.

Steve........

I've bought stupider shit than narwhal tusks. I had a big walrus skull for a few years with big honkin tusks. One of my inuk customers traded it for a barrel job. (he supplied the barrel) He had the proper paperwork for the ivory and Fish & Chips assured me that I could legally posses it and resell it in Canada with the CITES permit so I took it. I eventually sold it to a guy for $2,000 so I quadrupled my money. I also had a small mammoth tusk for a while which as I recall needed no paperwork. Doubled my money on that too. Eskimos like guns. They don't always have money but they have no shortage of dead critter parts and stone carvings. Some times you have to take a chance on stuff. The tough part is making sure the proper paperwork for that stuff is in place. You have to get permits even to transport marine animal parts in Canada. Back when I did it the process was kind of a pain in the ass. I imagine it has gotten even worse now. If memory serves, it's actually tougher to get a permit for a walrus tusk than it is to get a pistol.

quote:

I don't honestly know what I needed the damned thing for anyway! LOL

Because it is dam neat.

Saw some walrus tusks on one trip to AK that were papered. I really wanted one but once I was quoted the price that thought went away fast.

But it was dam neat I still would love to have it hanging on the wall.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve E.:
So is it not abalone or are you just messing with Rod?

Steve.......

Been ab diving for a whole lot of years, along with a bunch other guys. Have seen a ton of ab shells, nothing like the pic.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve E.:
So is it not abalone or are you just messing with Rod?

Steve.......

Been ab diving for a whole lot of years, along with a bunch other guys. Have seen a ton of ab shells, nothing like the pic.

I don't ab dive, I just look at the vacant houses and guess. Could be from a garden snail some guy found in his yard for all I know. But if I had to take a guess from all the shells that I have seen, I would still pick abalone for lack of a better choice. But that is just a guess. I'm no Little Suzie Sea Shell egg-spurt. If you look at the first link, they come in every color of the rainbow from snow white, pearl to almost black and I happen to know that they are pretty good to eat so I imagine there are a lot of vacant homes up for sale.

http://deltonaseashells.com/abalone--seashells-

http://www.handicraft-vn.com/s...y-ars044-p-1333.html

https://www.caseashells.com/pr...key-Ear-Abalone.html

abalone by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

When I lived in Monterey there was an old Mexican gentleman that lived outside of Castroville that made knife scales and a few 1911 grips from Abalone and if I remember right they looked similar to these but like you said Rod they were a lot of variation in the color. I had all but forgotten about that until we started talking about Abalone in this post. Like the US I bet Canada was a lot nicer back in the 40's or so.

Steve.......

They sure could be some other kind of shell. For stuff made back in the 1920s forward I would just assume that it would have to be some sort of shellfish that was common to North American waters and thick enough to get a quarter inch thick slab out of. Most of the clam shells I have seen are really thin. The fresh water clams back home in the Red Deer, Oldman and Bow rivers seldom get thicker than .100 inch thick and they are domed pretty high so there would be no way you could get a grip out of it.