Ivory, Getting across the border.

KellyGlanzer

KellyGlanzer

Gold Member
Joined
May 4, 2005
Messages
1,886
Hello all,
I am thinking of picking up a custom with ivory handles. The ivory is Circa 1970 but i dont belive there is any paperwork to confirm this. The knife could be shipped without any descrption other than "cutting tool" but how much risk would i be exposed to here?:(
Help!

Kelly
 
If they open the box, you're screwed. Odds are they won't, but Murphy's law was written for a reason. I even get nervous importing whitish mammoth ivory. Elephant, I just wouldn't do. Your call.

Roger
 
That was my first thought as well Chuck but the more I think about it the more I am afraid of what you are saying Rodger.
I dont think I will take the chance.:(
 
I really want a knife with a bark elephant ivory handle. I considered ordering one from the US, but first I contacted Canada Customs to check on what would be required. The knife would have to be sent with the proper CITES documentation to prove that it is pre-ban. I decided that the knife will be made by a Canadian maker.

I get about 50% of the knives that are shipped to me from the US opened by Customs agents. There is not a chance that I would ever import an elephant ivory handled knife without all the required documentation.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I really want a knife with a bark elephant ivory handle. I considered ordering one from the US, but first I contacted Canada Customs to check on what would be required. The knife would have to be sent with the proper CITES documentation to prove that it is pre-ban. I decided that the knife will be made by a Canadian maker.

I get about 50% of the knives that are shipped to me from the US opened by Customs agents. There is not a chance that I would ever import an elephant ivory handled knife without all the required documentation.
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I would NOT BE OK at all with someone openning my kinves before receiving them.
 
I have never had them damage a knife, and they usually repackage them very well, but occasionally they do a mediocre job of it.
 
Any of youse folks read about the recent non-legal market for the meat of forest elephants in central Africa? Not a nice circumstance, but the commanded prices make me think there could be a market for elephant farming. Perhaps raising one two elephants to replace every harvested elephant (one to be released to the wild; one for livestock) and then selling the ivory and leather to collectors (if elephant bone works like giraffe bone, sell that, too), the meat to our connisseur friends, and use whatever's left over for organic fertilizer, chum, hotdogs, or marrow fights.

I think that sort of thing would be win-win for everyone but the harvested elephants, but much better than losing entire species of elephants to poachers.
 
thombrogan said:
Any of youse folks read about the recent non-legal market for the meat of forest elephants in central Africa? Not a nice circumstance, but the commanded prices make me think there could be a market for elephant farming. Perhaps raising one two elephants to replace every harvested elephant (one to be released to the wild; one for livestock) and then selling the ivory and leather to collectors (if elephant bone works like giraffe bone, sell that, too), the meat to our connisseur friends, and use whatever's left over for organic fertilizer, chum, hotdogs, or marrow fights.

I think that sort of thing would be win-win for everyone but the harvested elephants, but much better than losing entire species of elephants to poachers.
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That is a very interesting thought! What about ivory from animals harvested from game farms? I've been thinking about this more and more as I recently received about 15 sets of elk sheds and cuts from a farmer I know. I did ask a former wildlife officer I know about the legality of it first. Your best bet is to do what Mr. Montgomery recommended and buy Canadian (or substitute the elephant for mammoth or another material).
 
Some African countries are allowing the sale of ivory that is harvested from animals that die naturally, or are culled because of over population. There are quite a few countries that are allowing the importation of that ivory. Canada and the US are not.
 
Be a responsible member of the human race and don't participate in the destruction of a species.

Don't buy anything made from elephant ivory w/o proper documentation to indicate it's provenance and its compliance with the current ban. Don't trust the "word" of a knifemaker or dealer, demand documentation. If it's not documented it's not real.

Search the web, you can readily find what type of documentation is legitimate.
 
I don't think you can farm African elephants. Too wild and ornery and powerful. Same reason why circuses only use female Indian elephants. I imagine fencing them in an area big enough to allow them to graze naturally would be a problem. And if enclosing them in smaller acreage then supplementing their feed would be quite an uphill battle.
 
brownshoe said:
Be a responsible member of the human race and don't participate in the destruction of a species.

Don't buy anything made from elephant ivory w/o proper documentation to indicate it's provenance and its compliance with the current ban. Don't trust the "word" of a knifemaker or dealer, demand documentation. If it's not documented it's not real.

Search the web, you can readily find what type of documentation is legitimate.
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I agree 100% with the above.

Gary
 
NDallyn said:
Your best bet is to do what Mr. Montgomery recommended and buy Canadian (or substitute the elephant for mammoth or another material).
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I do buy Canadian at times, but then I'm a citizen of the USA and buy from most places on the planet. Still, mammoth bark ivory looks better to me, but it's a dwindling supply and ways to get other folks in touch with more recent ivories would lower the demand for prescious blue bark.

Grapevine said:
I don't think you can farm African elephants. Too wild and ornery and powerful. Same reason why circuses only use female Indian elephants. I imagine fencing them in an area big enough to allow them to graze naturally would be a problem. And if enclosing them in smaller acreage then supplementing their feed would be quite an uphill battle.
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I think the forest elephants, despite their African address, are smaller still, but then so is their ivory. Good point, though, on trying to domesticate such large animals. Which brings us to genetic modification. Maybe a breed of pygmy elephants with freakishly long tusks could be developed.
 
george tichbourne said:
I don't think CITES recognizes any ivory harvested after the 1930's as legal.
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I believe the latest official ban imposed by CITES was in 1989.


brownshoe said:
Be a responsible member of the human race and don't participate in the destruction of a species.

Don't buy anything made from elephant ivory w/o proper documentation to indicate it's provenance and its compliance with the current ban. Don't trust the "word" of a knifemaker or dealer, demand documentation. If it's not documented it's not real.

Search the web, you can readily find what type of documentation is legitimate.
Click to expand...

I strongly agree also.
 
brownshoe said:
Be a responsible member of the human race and don't participate in the destruction of a species.

Don't buy anything made from elephant ivory w/o proper documentation to indicate it's provenance and its compliance with the current ban. Don't trust the "word" of a knifemaker or dealer, demand documentation. If it's not documented it's not real.

Search the web, you can readily find what type of documentation is legitimate.
Click to expand...

I tend to have a problem with many of your posts, but not this one. I couldn't agree more.
 
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