Big chunk of Mammoth Ivory.

M

mac62463

Joined
Aug 31, 2021
Messages
11
New guy here. I'm not sure if this is in the right place but here goes. I recently aquired about a 5 foot long 6+ inch 'round piece of Mammoth or Mastodon Ivory. I'm not sure what to do with it. Should I cut it up and stabilize it and try to sell it in pieces or do I clean it up and urethane the whole thing and sell it to someone who wants to display it? Or do I sell it as is a let whoever takes it do what they want with it? I was hoping for some advice from people who know more about it than I do. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
Ivory, hmmmm. I don't have a clue what's best, OR what's proper and legal. There may be stipulations.

I will send a note to Mark Knapp Mark Knapp who knows ALL about this.

Thanks for asking.
 
mac62463 said:
New guy here. I'm not sure if this is in the right place but here goes. I recently aquired about a 5 foot long 6+ inch 'round piece of Mammoth or Mastodon Ivory. I'm not sure what to do with it. Should I cut it up and stabilize it and try to sell it in pieces or do I clean it up and urethane the whole thing and sell it to someone who wants to display it? Or do I sell it as is a let whoever takes it do what they want with it? I was hoping for some advice from people who know more about it than I do. Thanks in advance for any info.
Click to expand...
Thanks Coop for sending me this. I will help if I can.

Not all tusks are created equal. Some are good for restoration, some are not. Some are good for scales, some are not. Some tusks are good for nothing. Seldom is a tusk good for both scales and restoration because different things are required for each.

Let's talk about legality first. Mammoth and mastodon ivory is legal for use and sale in virtually every country in the world except for a few states in the US. Since you didn't say where you live, I will let you look that up yourself to determine if it is legal where you live. Look here for answers to that.

States and Countries Banning the Sale of Fossil Ivory and proposed Legislation

Because of the poaching of African Elephants, many countries have banned the import of modern Ivory. Smugglers have been marking shipments of modern ivory as fossil ivory to get it past customs. Here in the United States, beginning with New Jersey and New York, state legislators have been...
www.aaps-journal.org

Next, we need to determine what your ivory is good for. Without seeing it, it's hard for me to help you with that. If you'd like to post a picture of it here, I will help if I can.

Next we need to know about you. As you might expect, there are certain skills and equipment needed to either restore a tusk or make scales out of one. If you are a fairly decent wood worker and have the equipment you can do it. It is possible, if you don't have either, that you could make a valuable thing worthless. It all starts with how long the tusk has been out of the ground. It will need to be dried (correctly) if it's not, and stabilized, then the work begins.

Some tusks are more valuable as a specimen and some are more valuable as knife making material.

I buy a lot of tusks, some are worth as little as $15.00 a pound, and some are worth much more than that.

If you provide a picture, I may be able to help you more.
 
Mark Knapp said:
Thanks Coop for sending me this. I will help if I can.

Not all tusks are created equal. Some are good for restoration, some are not. Some are good for scales, some are not. Some tusks are good for nothing. Seldom is a tusk good for both scales and restoration because different things are required for each.

Let's talk about legality first. Mammoth and mastodon ivory is legal for use and sale in virtually every country in the world except for a few states in the US. Since you didn't say where you live, I will let you look that up yourself to determine if it is legal where you live. Look here for answers to that.

States and Countries Banning the Sale of Fossil Ivory and proposed Legislation

Because of the poaching of African Elephants, many countries have banned the import of modern Ivory. Smugglers have been marking shipments of modern ivory as fossil ivory to get it past customs. Here in the United States, beginning with New Jersey and New York, state legislators have been...
www.aaps-journal.org

Next, we need to determine what your ivory is good for. Without seeing it, it's hard for me to help you with that. If you'd like to post a picture of it here, I will help if I can.

Next we need to know about you. As you might expect, there are certain skills and equipment needed to either restore a tusk or make scales out of one. If you are a fairly decent wood worker and have the equipment you can do it. It is possible, if you don't have either, that you could make a valuable thing worthless. It all starts with how long the tusk has been out of the ground. It will need to be dried (correctly) if it's not, and stabilized, then the work begins.

Some tusks are more valuable as a specimen and some are more valuable as knife making material.

I buy a lot of tusks, some are worth as little as $15.00 a pound, and some are worth much more than that.

If you provide a picture, I may be able to help you more.
Click to expand...
I'll try to get some pics posted. I'm not sure how to eo that yet. Its been out of the ground and in garage storage for approximately fifty years. I'm in Minnesnowta so its been in cold winters and humid summers for awhile. It's never been cleaned or anything and it looks pretty mineralized. Maybe I could email Thanks.
 
mac62463 said:
I'll try to get some pics posted. I'm not sure how to do that yet. Its been out of the ground (AK) and in garage storage for approximately fifty years. I'm in Minnesnowta so its been in cold winters and humid summers for awhile. It's never been cleaned or anything and it looks pretty mineralized. Maybe I could email pics to you. Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
mac62463 said:
I'll try to get some pics posted. I'm not sure how to eo that yet. Its been out of the ground and in garage storage for approximately fifty years. I'm in Minnesnowta so its been in cold winters and humid summers for awhile. It's never been cleaned or anything and it looks pretty mineralized. Maybe I could email Thanks.
Click to expand...
You are certainly welcomed to send me pictures through my email. You can find that email if you go to the link of my website below.
 
If photos are sent, please add them here?

FREE image hosting through IMGUR.com. This is what 90% of Bladeforums members do. Link from there to here.

Good luck on this. Interesting 'barn find'. :)
 
Hope you can post photos here. Would love to see this.

FYI - AS A PAID GOLD MEMBER
If you are working from a computer (I don't know anything about posting photos from a phone) you can simply drag photos from the desk top to a thread on BF. You will then be asked to select thumbnail or full size. Ideally the photo will be formatted as a jpeg and be sized small enough to be used by the web site - around 800 pixels or less or 70KB+/-.
 
Last edited:
off topic, but i wonder if your gold membership expires, do the photos you posted disappear as well ?
 
SharpByCoop said:
RayseM RayseM ^^^^ No he can't. Only you and I and others who pay for a GOLD membership can do that.
Click to expand...

OH YEAH - SORRY I keep forgetting the PAID STATUS requirements. I take them for granted. There you go M mac62463 sign up!!!
Worth being a gold member for so many reasons, not the least to support this tremendous resource that is Blade Forums.

Sorry for the side track!!! Still, would love to see your photos. :thumbsup:
 
SharpByCoop said:
( I have a membership and will never, ever use IMGUR. I trust them like I trusted Fototime. "How did that work out for you..??! :mad:)
Click to expand...
Exactly, Photobucket screwed me...I upload everything here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top