MOP or ivory?

[kamagong]

What do you consider the more fancy material? I've always thought of ivory as very nice, and classic. On the other hand, mother of pearl seems so much more exotic and seems well suited for a gentleman's knife that will be worn on Sundays and special occassions.



What say you?

[justold52]

Well you asked so I will tell my feeling on this.

Ivory on the right knife stays in the SAFE and hopefully get passed down in the family.

MOP gets out to be showed off one or two times a year.

I have only seen one MOP used every day. By a gas station man in Tidisville, PA. (With rust on her) and he did not know where the Queens factory was when I asked for directions.

Eye Brand Stockman 350SSP Pearl 3 Blade 3 5/8 " and my first pearl with super fire on BOTH sides.

[Hawke]

I like ivory best.

[smiling-knife]

Ivory is far more durable and was commonly used before its trade was restricted. In days of yor, MOP was considered much more fancy and exotic. It was typically used for fine fruitknives, lobsters, and small pens. The use of MOP for Trappers and stockman for e.g. is a recent attempt to appeal to collectors rather than users. s-k

[johnnierotten]

MOP.....looks better to me.

[Just Plain Dave]

I'm not sure I've ever laid my eyes on Ivory.

But I've seen in person some nice MOP!

THAT said I've been jones'n for Stag!

[Luckypaul777]

It depends on the style of knife for me but over all it's a draw; I love them both.


Paul

[tjmurphy]

You what General Patton's comment was concerning pearl and ivory!

[rmfnla]

MOP is more fragile and harder to work with; that makes it seem more exotic to me.

[peterforce]

uuuhhh..... i gave this some thought and now brain hurts...
lol...

ivory i love almost every piece i have seen.i used to prefer a nice clean piece of ivory
but now i prefer a nice bark ivory with checks,craks,diffrent shades.
the more undefined,the better.

i will say if you love stag and arent a pearl fan becuase of how clean it is
then give a nice piece of bark ivory a try.im sure most would agree.

although their are huge differences in ivory normally the differences are like that in bone or stag.different shades and texture etc etc. with pearl its either fiery,semi fiery or dull.
{not talking about BLP,GLP,PLP }

what is firey pearl? IMO its when its in your hand and rainbows are just spilling
out all over the place with just the natural movement of using the knife.
i would say maybe 10% of all pearl cuts fall into this group.
literally looks like a jewel of sorts.

what is semi fiery pearl? about 70% of all pearl IMO falls into this catergory.
has great fire and maybe even a little that gives it that jewel look but most rainbows are noticed only by handling under light,turning and twisting the knife around to see the rainbow/prizm effect.

dull pearl? dull pearl is just that dull. either a spark of rainbow or none at all.
a vintage knife easily can have dull pearl but it may not be dull underbeath dirt and so forth.vintage pearl if it was fiery at one point, if cleaned right,
you can regain back alot of that fire.
also like most things cheap cuts of pearl are normally dull?

MOP is also the hardest material for me to photograph properly.
poor pictures is also IMO why pearl is one of the hardest things to buy online.

what i have yet to see is JIGGED PEARL with any fire to it.
if you own anything with jigged pearl and its firey please post it or let me know.


long as usual but hope this helps a newcomer or something.