Tricks of the Trade:
Buying Egyptian Mother of Pearl
by Jimmy Dunn
Notation: Very fine Egyptian Mother of Pear items can be purchased in our Virtual Khan el-Khalili, along with other Egyptian products.
We have been doing a great deal of learning and researching
Egyptian products, and what we have discovered should be of
interest to many of our readers, especially those
traveling to Egypt. Take for example, mother of pearl.
There are an extensive number of products utilizing mother
of pearl. Of course, there are all sizes and styles of boxes
with such inlays, but there are also game boards, plates,
tables and other furniture, as well as many other
items. Some of these are very beautiful works of art.
Other pieces are pure junk.
To begin with, many of the items sold as having mother of
pearl inlays are not mother of pearl at all, but rather
plastic. If the item is very cheap, for example, a normal
souvenir drum, the mother of pearl is probably
plastic, regardless of what the merchant advises. One
may normally tell the difference between plastic and
real mother of pearl because the plastic is less shiny
and does not catch the light as does the real item.
Also, the individual pieces within the inlay will not
have the variety of rich colors as the piece is moved
about in the light.

In fact, probably the majority of items that are suppose to
have mother of pearl inlays are probably mixed, having some
plastic and some real mother of pearl. A close
examination with a bright light source is needed in order to tell for
certain. One must examine each inlayed area of the
products, as well as the individual pieces within the
inlay. For example, an inlayed game board may have
real mother of pearl used in the game pattern, but on
the side of the box, the inlays may be plastic, or
mixed with real mother of pearl.
On the other extreme from purely plastic inlays, the best
quality, pure mother of pearl inlayed products will have tiny
pieces of real mother of pearl laid in a tight, smooth
pattern with no obvious flaws. Running a hand over the
inlay will reveal a satin like finish and the overall
workmanship, including the wood or other finish will
also appear superior.
Between the purely plastic items and the very best genuine
products one may find a whole range of quality. As mentioned
above, some products will have a mix of plastic and
mother of pearl, but other products will perhaps be
pure mother of pearl. For those items that are pure
mother of pearl, the critical issues are the size of
the individual pieces and the precision of their fit
within the pattern. Obviously, items that have a
pattern of poorly fitted mother of pearl pieces are
less valuable than those with a good fit. But
equally, the art implies that the smaller the individual
pieces, the greater the workmanship required to produce the
object.workmanship required to produce the
object.

Pieces such as the box we depict in this article are fairly
rare. When visiting the Khan recently, our intention was to
purchase individual items as samples. Yet in one of the
largest mother of pearl stores in the real Khan
el-Khalili, only a couple of top quality pieces were
actually available. Therefore, when we do reopen our
Virtual Khan, most all of our products will be made to
our specifications, as we intend to offer only the
finest merchandise (you can always buy lesser quality
elsewhere on the net).

The tightly fit, but handmade mother of pearl pattern

Now the real trick when purchasing mother of pearl in Egypt
at the real world Khan el-Khalili, is to bargain for the item
you have examined, and never let it leave your site.
Even mother of pearl items with tightly fitted, small
pieces can nevertheless be mixed with plastic. If you
have managed to make a good bargain, talking the
merchant down from his original price, be sure to
leave with the actual item that was examined. Some,
and I might say many of the merchants may attempt to
substitute an item of lesser quality. He or she may
also, in the bargaining process, bring out other pieces that
they can sell at a reduced price, but each item must be
closely examined, because even though the pieces may look very
similar, some may be of mixed plastic. It is important
to note that the very best of the mother of pearl
products are each an individual work of art produced
by a craftsman, and so no two will be exactly alike.
gooo tooooooooooo