Ivory....

blackpearlmaker

blackpearlmaker

Caliper User......
Silver Member
Well its been a long time i have not using this stuff, but now i think i will be using it again..I visit my friend who has an ivory supplier to me and also to Late Edwin Reyes. I really thought he was out business of because of ivory banned, i visit his shop who's the product is a statue of diffeent saints, talking about business for about 3 hours.
I asked him if he also export those statue made on ivory. And he said yes, he shipped it Worldwide. He is aware of ivory banned but he can still shipped those product to the U.S..And i asked him. how did you do that? I was really surprised to his answer..He said to me that the key is on the "declaration of the items"..

Now something played on my mind, Are the cues are just hot stuff on customs thats why they can easily confiscate it, if it contains an ivory?
I'm also thinking of how about those other stuff that is not cues but made also of ivory.
What do you think fellows?

By the way, here's what i got from him. He said to me that ivory is not a problem at all. And because of that, i want also extend this opportunity to my fellow cuemakers when it comes to this stuff. but i know it will not be easy specially those people who lived in U.S..But still willing to help..

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More powers to all,
Al
 
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If his ivory supply is Asian elephant it is more protected than African Elephant and we are not allowed to use it at all even for cues that are staying in the USA. So it sounds like trouble looking for a place to happen if Americans were to start bringing it in and using it.
 
Importing ivory to the US is a crime not worth the risk.
There is plenty of legal ivory here.
Warther's the man here.
 
cueman said:
If his ivory supply is Asian elephant it is more protected than African Elephant and we are not allowed to use it at all even for cues that are staying in the USA. So it sounds like trouble looking for a place to happen if Americans were to start bringing it in and using it.
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Thanks for the info Mr. Chris, really appreciated it. So is it means that all ivory in the States were not from Asian Elephant?
 
JoeyInCali said:
All African I believe.
Also, most of the ivory you see sold here now are decades old.
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I see, i know that its decades old thats why its legally sold. Is there anyway to detect if the ivory is already decade on age.? even its already design on the cue?
 
Al_Bautista_Cue said:
Thanks for the info Mr. Chris, really appreciated it. So is it means that all ivory in the States were not from Asian Elephant?
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There are Asian tusks here. But they are smaller and thinner and easy to identify. Even the ones before the 89 ban are not legal to put in interstate commerce here from my understanding. The Asian elephant is considered endangered, while the African elephant is considred threatened if I have the terms correct. I have not heard of anyone going to jail for it here. But plenty of cues have been cofiscated. I do know someone in Japan that was arrested and then search warrants issued for his shop and bunch of stuff confiscated. I have not heard of anyone from your country going to jail for it either, but I don't advise taking any risks.
I will state something here that may start some flames, but here goes. There is a lot of cue building talent in your country. There are also some very inferior cues coming from your country. You and I both know these things to be facts. But in recent years several of you there have taken the quality of the work seriously and started making some really nice quality cues. Cue makers here feel a little threatened by the rise in quality of cues from your country and other Asian countries. So therefore if you violate any laws it will be posted everywhere to discredit you. Many American cuemakers ship Ivory inlaid cues out of the country. But if you do it, since your prices are lower it will be pointed out to try and hurt your business. I don't think that mentality is fair, but that is the nature of this business. So I would encourage you to consider alternatives like bleached camel bone or antler material that is not under cites protection.
Just keep on putting out quality product and the word will get around. Do something illegal and the word will also get around. When we established the International Cuemakers Association we knew that there were some great cuemakers all over the world and wanted to include them. But we once asked about allowing an apprentice member from your country in and our board voted to let them in. Then a few members went ballistic and one even resigned membership over it. Then the guy who applied never sent his fees in, and a hornets nest was stirred up for nothing. But what is right is right and that is what we must promote.
 
asian ivory isnt has hard as african ivory. African ivory also it needs about 10 years before its usable, like wood it is green when its harvested.
 
cueman said:
There are Asian tusks here. But they are smaller and thinner and easy to identify. Even the ones before the 89 ban are not legal to put in interstate commerce here from my understanding. The Asian elephant is considered endangered, while the African elephant is considred threatened if I have the terms correct. I have not heard of anyone going to jail for it here. But plenty of cues have been cofiscated. I do know someone in Japan that was arrested and then search warrants issued for his shop and bunch of stuff confiscated. I have not heard of anyone from your country going to jail for it either, but I don't advise taking any risks.
I will state something here that may start some flames, but here goes. There is a lot of cue building talent in your country. There are also some very inferior cues coming from your country. You and I both know these things to be facts. But in recent years several of you there have taken the quality of the work seriously and started making some really nice quality cues. Cue makers here feel a little threatened by the rise in quality of cues from your country and other Asian countries. So therefore if you violate any laws it will be posted everywhere to discredit you. Many American cuemakers ship Ivory inlaid cues out of the country. But if you do it, since your prices are lower it will be pointed out to try and hurt your business. I don't think that mentality is fair, but that is the nature of this business. So I would encourage you to consider alternatives like bleached camel bone or antler material that is not under cites protection.
Just keep on putting out quality product and the word will get around. Do something illegal and the word will also get around. When we established the International Cuemakers Association we knew that there were some great cuemakers all over the world and wanted to include them. But we once asked about allowing an apprentice member from your country in and our board voted to let them in. Then a few members went ballistic and one even resigned membership over it. Then the guy who applied never sent his fees in, and a hornets nest was stirred up for nothing. But what is right is right and that is what we must promote.
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Thanks again for the info and advice Mr. Chris..As what i have stated, will not risk anything. I understand some of your concerns when it comes to this stuff. As far as threatened, Well i respect all cuemakers around the world likewise to the Associations, if that happens and i will not compromise anything specially the price when it comes to ivory inlaid cues. Everyone knows that cues lot of ivory contents from my country were cheap. because of this mentality, if a cue contains this stuff it will easily sold. We can conclude that money is on top than following those rule.
And i am not that kind of cuemaker, cause i have also rules that i follow in my life, those alternatives are great but they are not available here in my country. And it does not mean that i will not used this stuff..Important is i know the limitations on using this.
By the way, I talked to my friend and he said his ivory supply came from Africa..It just on the pictures that it looks white fresh because i downloaded it at photobucket, make some autofix but in real it has a yellowish in color and based on my observation it was already in many years of age.
 
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