Each stroke that is carved by hand starts with a blunt entry cut. The end of the curve is feathered to a point as the steel leaves the ivory. Also, a hand carved lline is continuous. The repro looks etched (scratched) or lasered.

The sad part is the the seller has plenty of buyers all thinking that they are getting something they are not.

One poster mentioned that there was no harm since they sell relatively cheaply and are "works of art". Well a friend of mine bought 2 "works of art" second hand at over $90 each. The originally sale probably went cheap ($25 to $35). However, once the first buyer realized what he had bought he then resold and made a nice profit. When my friend was informed of what he bought, his first thought was to dump his whole collection.

How anyone can think there is nothing wrong with what he is selling is beyond me.