[Looking4] Custom-cuts bone

Looking for custom mammoth ivory, bone or horn cutter for jewelry
design?

We are a jewelry design company looking for someone who supplies and
custom-cuts or carves mammoth ivory, bone, or horn to our
specifications. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cecilia

custom cut mammoth ivory - Hi Cecelia, Just perusing my store of
Ganoksin and saw your letter. I live in Yukon and have been carving
small pieces ivory for about 10 years. If you could give me a better
idea what you are looking for, I may be able to help.

Sandra
Argent Tusk

You might try Mark Anderson on Facebook. He is in Wisconsin.

Hi Sandra,

Could you contact me off list, I have friends that are interested in
extinct ivory.

As for myself, it would be simple disks for knife embellishment, and
maybe the odd larger piece, I don’t need to store tusks :wink:

Regards Charles A.

Isn’t against the law, like State and Federal Laws in the USA, to
transport and/or sell ivory? Not just sell it, but just transporting
it?? My dad had some walrus tusks many many years ago, up in Alaska,
that were given to him by an eskimo. He had all the documention and
proof with him. Turned out only eskimos were allowed to have walrus
tusks in their possession. It did not matter that he had donated his
time as a doctor, in their village, and this was their way of paying
him. He was lucky he didn’t get get arrested!

So it makes me question whether or not these requests for ivory are
even legal?

Sandra b

Sandra,

You can go online to places like motherearthtraders.com and find all
kinds of ivory for sale. I think that what you might be talking
about is new ivory that was taken from any animal just for its value.
I’ve been buying Walrus ivory since 1998 from Alaska that’s thousands
of years old for knife handles and amulets made with inlaid stones.
Just go online and check the sites, there are sites from Canada that
are restricted from shipping to the U.S.

Mark

Hi Sandra,

Depends on the country. Requests for pretty much anything isn’t
illegal, it’s the follow through usually.

However requests for mammoth ivory is not a violation in any country
that I know of. The animal is already extinct, so not subject to the
same laws as elephant ivory, or walrus tusks.

Some indigenous people are allowed to hunt eat and sell certain
species, and in Australia this is the case. I believe the Inuit are
also excepted when it comes to some of the creatures they hunt.

One of the things I was thinking about was that now that Elephants
are being culled, that ivory is still illegal, but should it be?

Regards Charles A.

Isn’t against the law, like State and Federal Laws in the USA, to
transport and/or sell ivoryAs far as I know, fossil ivories are the
only legal ivories for import. The reason being that they are from
extinct animals, not endangered ones. On cross section, it is very
easy to tell if you are looking at fossil mammoth/mastadon or
elephant. There is a grain which has an angle in it. More than
45degrees(obtuse) is elephant and less than 45 (acute) is mammoth.
It is found here, frozen in the permafrost, and is usually revealed
by modern Placer mining operations in the Klondike area. For many
years in Yukon, this material was not allowed to be exported unless
it had been worked. This is definitely not a renewable resource. Now
the majority found goes to carvers in Indonesia, and then is imported
back to North America as a finished product, or it goes to
scrimshanders here in N.A. I do not know what regs are concerning
walrus ivory, but I do know there is a market for fossil walrus as
well. These ivories were used by ancient Northern peoples for sled
runners, hide scrapers etc, and are in great demand by
scrimshanders.

Hope this helps
Sandra Hall
Argent Tusk

http://www.cites.org

should be info there about what’s what. i moved to the u.k. [from
the u.s.] in the mid 80’s. my family sent stuff [tools
materials]…everything was in limbo for months, sorting out a
problem of having declared old piano keys[ivory] in my materials
export/import documents.

I’ve taken this off a site about scrimshaw. I’ve gotten into that
recently. Val

WALRUS (non-fossil)-

Regulated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the 1972 Marine
Mammal Protection Act. Raw walrus ivory predating the Dec. 21, 1972
law, tusks bearing the Alaska state walrus ivory registration tags or
post-law walrus ivory that has been carved or scrimshawed by an
Alaskan native (Eskimo) are legal to buy, possess, and sell.

Raw walrus ivory obtained after 12/21/72 is not legal to buy or sell
unless both parties are Eskimo (it is legal to own). A $30 export
permit is required to ship walrus ivory or oosik (legal as per above)
out of the United States.

FOSSIL WALRUS IVORY-

Not restricted as it pre-dates the 1972 cutoff, it is legal to buy
and sell anywhere within the United States. Shipping ivory or oosik
(fossil walrus penal bone) out of the U. S. requires a $30 permit.

Sandra,

While most ivory is illegal to sell or possess due to either Federal
law, State law, or various treaties, there are some exceptions.

You have to do some fairly painstaking legal research to find them,
but most of the people who work with ivory are aware of them.

I am not an attorney, but I am have at least become aware of the
following exceptions:

  1. Elephant ivory which is documented as having been harvest before
    the before the pre-ban date is grandfathered as legal to buy, sell,
    or possess in the United States.

  2. Under some circumstances, this same ivory is legal to buy, sell,
    or possess in CITES signatory countries.

  3. Mammoth ivory, either frozen or fossilized is legal to buy, sell,
    or possess in nearly all CITES signatory countries, because this
    ivory is derived from an already extinct species. Further, there is
    now DNA fingerprinting that can easily tell the difference in court
    between Mammoth and Elephant Ivories.

  4. Walrus and narhwal ivory transactions or possession is highly
    regulated. For the most part indigenes (sp?) are allow to possess and
    sell, and other are permitted to buy only processed products from
    these indigenes.

  5. Ivories, bones, and horns from other animals depend on country and
    state. For example, the canine teeth of Elk are consider ivory, but
    are completely unregulated within the United States or CITES
    signatories so long as the Elk from which they came were taken
    legally, because Elk in the United States are neither endangered nor
    threatened.

No need for fear so long as you do your research.

Andrew Jonathan Fine

I have decided not to deal in certain items (coral/fossil coral,
ivory/fossil ivory, fur) since in any form it creates ‘demand’ for
the item. Even if you have ivory or coral from an extinct animal, the
desire for it leads to the death of a living animal. Fur-bearing
animals did not commit suicide so someone could wear a fur coat
(I’ve heard that as a justification).

Most jewelry consumers cannot distinguish between a fossil
ivory/coral and a currently living species. Therefore, I do not
promote any of these items.

This is not an indictment against those who do. It’s just an
explanation about what I do/do not.

best regards,
Kelley Dragon

Most jewelry consumers cannot distinguish between a fossil
ivory/coral and a currently living species. Therefore, I do not
promote any of these items. 

So am I right that you wouldn’t use vegetable ivory for the same
reason?

Just curious.
Regards Charles A.

Well Kelly,

You better stop any buying of diamonds, Tanzanite, Rubies, Sapphires.
They all have ways of entering this country under the radar of
customs. Also the treatment of theses stones is almost something that
jewelers have a hard time detecting the treatments used to enhance
them.

Mark