My first piece of advise for any collector wishing to purchase an ivory chip is to find out if it is a genuine ivory chip carved over 100 years ago.

The chip Travis alluded to in his original post screams fake to one familiar with genuine chips

A list of things I found suspicious in the ebay chip

1. A genuine chips normally has a nerve hole. Everything radiates out from there. Any visible schreger lines would be in a concentic pattern. I see straight parallel lines on the ebay chip. A big ?

2. Rim leaves on genuine chips are carved off of a ring. The ring gives the carver a starting point with the leaf. The leaves in the ebay chip start near the edge of the chip. There is no ring out side the leaves. Just doesn't happen

3. A genuine chip that has a ring and colored rim will have both equally spaced. That is, the space between the ring and color will be the same at every point around the chip. The reason they are equally spaced is because a lathe is use which guarantees spacing. The distance between the color and the ring in the ebay auction is not equal all around the chip. This would not be possible if a lathe was used

4. A hand carved line would start off thick (where the knife enters the ivory) and end thin (where the knife exits the ivory). The ebay chips shows lines of equal thickness (like what would be done by a laser)

5. A genuine ivory chip is never perfect. Where lines are supposed to meet many times one line will extend past where it should end. This is what happens when something is hand carved. The ebay chip has a perfectly formed 5. Lines meet perfectly. Just not reality.

6. The color and wear pattern ios not right

Again, ask before you bid!!