Ivory

somms69

somms69

escape artist
Silver Member
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to have picked up two tusks that had no crazing or cracking, were 41" long, 14' in circumference at the base, and the top 18' of the tusk appeared to be solid, what might these be worth, roughly? Also, hypothetically speaking, if these were purchased at a garage sale there might not be any paperwork so how might I identify if these were legal to own? Thanks in advance.

todd
 

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somms69 said:
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to have picked up two tusks that had no crazing or cracking, were 41" long, 14' in circumference at the base, and the top 18' of the tusk appeared to be solid, what might these be worth, roughly? Also, hypothetically speaking, if these were purchased at a garage sale there might not be any paperwork so how might I identify if these were legal to own? Thanks in advance.

todd
Click to expand...

Try this guy
http://www.elephantivorytusks.com/
 
somms69 said:
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to have picked up two tusks that had no crazing or cracking, were 41" long, 14' in circumference at the base, and the top 18' of the tusk appeared to be solid, what might these be worth, roughly? Also, hypothetically speaking, if these were purchased at a garage sale there might not be any paperwork so how might I identify if these were legal to own? Thanks in advance.

todd
Click to expand...

With paperwork....$225-275 per pound

without paperwork....$125-200 per pound

Just depends on how knowledgeable the seller and buyer are.
 
BarenbruggeCues said:
With paperwork....$225-275 per pound

without paperwork....$125-200 per pound

Just depends on how knowledgeable the seller and buyer are.
Click to expand...
With or without paper work probably means almost zero in the price. And I am pretty sure no more than a handful of cuemakers have bought and sold more Ivory than I have the last 20 plus years. All Ivory in the states is to be considered legal unless there is evidence to the contrary. It is legal unless proven illegal. It is not illegal until proven legal. There is a misconception that because there is a ban in place that we are to assume Ivory without papers is illegal. The opposite is true. We are to assume it is legal and has been here at least since 1989. Many tusks have numbers on them and fish and game can look up those numbers and see when and where it came from. When Ivory was not restricted it rarely came with any documentation. So when an Ivory supplier provides you with papers they are just putting up a smoke screen to make you think their Ivory is somehow legal and others are not. The papers they provide just tell the story that the seller told them.
 
Thanks for your input gentlemen :smile: Chris, by chance is there a universal location that the fish and wildlife numbers are marked on the tusks? I purchased these from an older woman's daughter at her garage sale. The story goes that her husband bought these on a trip to the Congo in the early 1970's and brought them home with him.

todd
 
somms69 said:
Thanks for your input gentlemen :smile: Chris, by chance is there a universal location that the fish and wildlife numbers are marked on the tusks? I purchased these from an older woman's daughter at her garage sale. The story goes that her husband bought these on a trip to the Congo in the early 1970's and brought them home with him.

todd
Click to expand...

if you wanted it to have papers....
then .....this has to happen...
prove the story...such as pictures with the ivory in it prior to the ban....
call the fish and wildlife people file for the paperworks. send a letter of the story and or the pics with it.
then if they find that the story is true or find that the picture predated the ban .... then bingo....
you got paper.

I had to do the same with my narwhale horns...
I have SIX full sets and are 6-7 feet tall 10inch diameter no cracks.
called the wildlife people and told me to prove the sets were in the us prior to the ban...
I sent a letter with the story of how they got here and even had pics of when it was bought...
and another with my grandpa drinking coffee and smoking his cig and reading the news paper
with the tusk in the background.
I blew the picture up with the date of the newspaper visible. and bingo I got my paper works
and had them stamped. hope this helps.

of course the tusk I own is more expensive than elephant...way more... that's why I had to protect
myself for unforeseen events. And now if my customers leave the US with my ivory in the cues,
they can at least bring them back with them with no problems cause they to will have a copy.
 
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somms69 said:
Thanks for your input gentlemen :smile: Chris, by chance is there a universal location that the fish and wildlife numbers are marked on the tusks? I purchased these from an older woman's daughter at her garage sale. The story goes that her husband bought these on a trip to the Congo in the early 1970's and brought them home with him.

todd
Click to expand...
They may carve the numbers about anywhere on the outside of the tusks. Just get a letter from the lady saying her husband bought them in the Congo in the 1970s and I doubt you will ever have any problems. As long as you do not try to ship any of it out of the country, under our current laws you should be fine. IMO.
 
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