Rolled Gold Ivory Mother & Child Miniature Brooch

• Ivory - Ivory is a hard white material that comes from the tusks of elephants, mammoth, walrus and boar, or from the teeth of hippopotamus and whales. The ivory from the African elephant is the most prized source of ivory. Although the mammoth is extinct, tusks are still being unearthed in Russia and offered for sale.
  
  Ivory has been used since the earliest times as a material for sculpture of small items, both in Europe and the east, principally China and Japan.
  
  In Asia ivory has been carved for netsuke, seals, okimono, card cases, fan supports, animals and other figures and even as carved tusks.
  
  In the last 200 years in Europe ivory has been used to carve figures, for elaborate tankards, snuff boxes, cane handles, embroidery and sewing accessories, in jewellery and as inlay on furniture. Its more practical uses include being used for billiard balls, buttons, and a veneers on the top of piano keys.
  
  The use and trade of elephant ivory have become controversial because they have contributed to Due to the decline in elephant populations because of the trade in ivory, the Asian elephant was placed on Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in 1975, and in January 1990, the African elephant was similarly listed. Under Appendix One, international trade in Asian or African elephant ivory between member countries is forbidden. Unlike trade in elephant tusks, trade in mammoth tusks is legal.
  
  Since the invention of plastics, there have been many attempts to create an artificial ivory
• Rolled Gold - A type of gold plating devloped in the early 19th century, similar to Sheffield plating of silver, where the the gold is fused under pressure and heat to a base metal, usually brass, and then rolled into sheets of the required thickness.
  
  The thickness of the gold plate can vary. In Britain the thickness of the gold is measured in microns. A micron is one-thousandth of a millimetre and 20 microns of gold is considered good quality. In the USA a differnt method is used that takes account of the total weight of the object.
  
  Also, the purity of the gold, measured in carats can vary, with 24 carat being the purest. The gold in most rolled gold objects will be between 9 and 14 carats.
  
  There are other chemical and electroplating methods of applying gold plate to a base metal, but rolled gold is considered a superior plate to a "gold plated" object.
  
  Depending on the country and date of manufacture, the object may be stamped "Rolled Gold" or similar, but if there is any doubt as to whether an object is solid gold, or some type of gold plating, it is preferable to have it tested by a jeweller.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• brooches, depicting - Mother 32
• brooches, design or type
  • painted portrait brooches 102
  • portrait and locket 507
• miniatures - portrait, in jewellery 105