How can you tell a piece of carved of ivory from an animal antler?

Antlers are bone, Ivory is basically teeth (or tusks) same thing. You can light a match to to bone and will burn some and give off that burnt flesh smell. Ivory won't it's to tough unless you use a blow torch.

it is difficult to tell when you don't know what to look. i will suggest that you bring your piece to a professional ivory trade store to let them look at if there is one in your area. i've never seen a carved antler, but i know what ivory looks like. if it's an antique piece of ivory, it will look light yellowish in color because ivory will changed to a darker color over time. the older the piece, the darker it looks, but this will always depends on the individual condition. a piece of chinese carved ivory will usually remain it's natural color, pale yellowish, and most of them will have chinese / asian picturesque depiction. the last way i know is to look at it's pattern. when you look at it in close examination, you will find a repetitive fine wavey lines in the whole piece. i hope it helps. the price can usually tell something of it's kind, it is quite ware but could happened that a dealer/seller will get mistaken from ivory than other bones.

Bone is bone...and they are both bone.