The Ivory Market

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akivory

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Feb 5, 2001
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There have seen some interesting changes in the international mammoth ivory market that may be of interest to collectors. The market strategy of the Russians has changed and they are selling it by the lot instead of grading it. There used to be three main buyers in Hong Kong that bought the majority of the Siberian solid mammoth. It seems the Hong Kong buyers are now competing with the factory owners on the mainland. The price of A grade mammoth is said to be up to $200 per LB. The colorful bark ivory coveted by knife makers is from material that the Chinese have not been very interested in the past and they are now buying in the ungraded lots. It would not surprise me if very little Russian ivory comes this way unless is in the form of scales cut in China.
On a side note I agree with those who do not consider it suitable to put mammoth tooth on a knife that is to be used. About ten years ago I started using mammoth teeth for a medium for my sculptures. I now carve over 50 teeth a year. It is incredibly beautiful but will not hold up to use.
 
akivory said:
The market strategy of the Russians has changed and they are selling it by the lot instead of grading it.

The price of A grade mammoth is said to be up to $200 per LB.

The colorful bark ivory coveted by knife makers is from material that the Chinese have not been very interested in the past and they are now buying in the ungraded lots.

It would not surprise me if very little Russian ivory comes this way unless is in the form of scales cut in China.
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Akivory, this interest me quite a bit, however as I'm far from being an expert on ivory please explain what impact these four points will potentially have on makers thus collectors. I do know enough about ivory to recognize its not good news.

Thank for bringing this to our attention. I for one was not aware of this.
 
If top quality mammoth ivory is up to $200.00 a pound then the price of knives on which it is used is going to go way up. Not good for me, because I really like the material.
 
It sounds like primo mammoth may get hard to find, just like primo stag is?

The character and variety of colorful mammoth and walrus scales are hard to beat in my book. I know Charles Turnage use to charge $1.00 more per square inch for crackle ivory over plain ivory scales. His scales with up to 60% blue color were $2.00 higher per square inch. Guess we will see where prices go from here for the higher grade scales? It is all supply and demand.

- Joe
 
Until about ten years ago not much Siberian came into the US .I traveled across Russia in 1991 looking at ivory and finding it very cheap but it was very hard to do business with the dealers. About six years ago tons of the lesser quality bark started coming in. This has driven the price down and made the material available to more collectors and users.
There are between 10 and 20 tons of mammoth mined and collected here in Alaska and the Yukon each year. Only a small percent of that makes it into the market as knife scales.
Knife scales bring the highest price for colorful bark so i do not think that there will be serious shortages .
 
striper28 said:
If you do a search on ebay for mammoth knife scales there is a ton of it being sold from Chinese dealers.
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I would be very careful buying ivory off eBay which has already been cut to scales in China, sight unseen. :eek:

I bet most of them state the ivory has been cured at least years :jerkit:
 
I noticed that recently the african nations voted to dump a huge lot of elephant ivory on the market and then put an embargo on it for ten years.

Does anyone know if this actually happened and where all that ivory went???
 
A question. In the distant future I imagine, I would like to get a 3" folder with damascus blade and mammoth scales. This would be carried very very rarely, and probably used even more rarely. Should I scrap this idea altogether, or is there a like substitute for mammoth ivory? Sorry to go OT.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
A question. In the distant future I imagine, I would like to get a 3" folder with damascus blade and mammoth scales. This would be carried very very rarely, and probably used even more rarely. Should I scrap this idea altogether, or is there a like substitute for mammoth ivory? Sorry to go OT.
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Mammoth ivory is fine for a light use carry knife. It's a lot tougher than most folks give it credit for.
 
tom mayo said:
I noticed that recently the african nations voted to dump a huge lot of elephant ivory on the market and then put an embargo on it for ten years.

Does anyone know if this actually happened and where all that ivory went???
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Tom, I heard this also. It most likely went to China for all the little carvings they produce.
 
I also doubt there will be a shortage, but there will be a price increase. If the price goes up dramatically from the suppliers, then it is bound to do the same from the makers. For collectors on a limited budget, that probably means looking for a different material, or settling for a lower quality ivory.

The elephant ivory would have gone to countries that allow its importation. The US and Canada are not amongst those countries.
 
Now I know that it doesn't have the colors like the old mammoth and walrus, but has anyone who likes white ivory tried the straight upper hippo tusks? I would hate to see a shift to dyed giraffe bone....lol:p
 
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