Walrus Tusks

S

Steve Beckwith

Joined
May 29, 2004
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I have a friend who has a friend that apparently has a walrus skull with both complete tusks. I am led to believe that the tusks are in the neighborhood of 3' each (my friend has seen them). These are supposedly going to be offered for sale to me. The owner was on a fishing boat and dragged the skull up in the net. Apparently they are accompanied by proper paper wok to make them legal. A lot of ifs and maybes but assuming they are actually made available to me what would something like this be worth? If they are as nice as I have been led to believe I would have a very difficult time ever cutting them up, I would probably use them as a curio around the house.
 
Do you live in the US? If so, check with your local game Warden or U.S. fish and wildlife service guy. Don't believe things you read on the internet. Go to the source.
 
Let"s assume these things are legit but this is good advice. I'm in the US. Also, this isn't an internet thing.
 
I would contact Mark Knapp and send some good photos. He knows a lot about how usable and valuable these things are as well as some of the legality issues.
 
One thing to remember is that a walrus tusk has three parts:
1) The tip is usable for a bowie handle.
2) and 3) The other two parts are the Ivory enamel over the dentin core. The core is often called tapioca, because of the look. I like the core, but it is very different from the ivory enamel.

You get one Bowie handle per tusk. Depending on the sex of the walrus and size of the tusk, you get a limited number of ivory scales. 90% of the tusk is the tapioca core.
Careful planning and cutting will be required to determine how much usable material there is. A cow is less usable than a bull.

Generally, I cut off the tip and set it aside. Then I make a cut straight down the centerline dividing the tusk into a left and right half. Then I cut each again to separate the core from the ivory. These four pieces are cut into scale length pieces. This will give matching scales of both core and ivory.

As to value, the whole skull and tusks is probably more valuable as a display than as knife scales. If you were to buy a whole skull in good condition. it could run several thousand dollars. Condition is everything here. Dredged tusks can also be in poor shape, and not worth a lot. Individual tusks run from $300 to $1000 in most cases, but it has been a while since I bought one.
 
Thanks Stacy. That is pretty much what I was looking for. I wasn't really thinking of cutting them up and I won't be spending hundreds, or thousands, for another curio around the house.
 
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