What the work includes
The examination is based on the objects supplied, photographs, documents, information on conditions of discovery, comparison samples and the questions posed.
- initial assessment of the object, packaging and conditions of discovery;
- analysis of features indicating plant or animal origin;
- assessment of possible species, genus or group identification;
- comparison with comparison samples, where available;
- preparation of a report, expert report review or analytical position.
Typical questions
- whether the object is of biological origin;
- whether the object belongs to wild flora or wild fauna;
- what diagnostic features the object has;
- whether species, genus or group identification is possible;
- whether the findings of a previous examination are substantiated.
Pricing
from RUB 80,000. The exact cost depends on the object type, number of samples, questions, need for laboratory work and urgency.
How to link the part of a product examined to its provenance
A product may contain several materials: a wood base, coating, adhesive, decorative insert or animal-derived fragments. Identifying one component does not automatically describe the whole item. Before examination, it is useful to draw a diagram of the product and indicate which part concerns the question posed.
Keep documents identifying the goods, batch and movement, and photographs of packaging and labelling. If the object has already been repaired, coloured or divided into parts, state when and what changes occurred. For processed raw materials, information on known processing matters: it may make features normally used to distinguish natural objects harder to observe.
What to include in the inventory
- The identifier of the product and each part supplied separately.
- Where the fragment was taken from, if sampling has already occurred, and the document recording this.
- The link between the sample, packaging, photograph and goods-accompanying document.
- Whether other items from the same batch are available and the basis for treating them as comparable.
Do not remove coatings, saw the item or separate small inclusions merely to send a more convenient sample. First determine which material is needed to answer the question and which alterations are permissible. The examination result should describe the selected part, features found and the components of the product to which the conclusion applies. If the provenance of the whole item cannot be reconstructed from the fragment examined, that limitation must also be preserved in subsequent use of the opinion.