UK to Ban Ivory

What happens in the royal collection stays in the royal collection?

 

Yes I'm sure it will...
Pretty hypocritical I reckon.

 

I'm not worried about the ban, if it puts a stop to poaching then that's a good thing, I have seen many items on ebay that I wouldn't touch because I suspect they are recent. My problem is many items I see as works of art from the 19th c will become worthless or at a later stage become illegal, if only they had been more specific to what they deem "rare or important"

 

Exemptions, The government intends to exempt a narrow range of items containing ivory from the sales ban. We consulted on four broad categories of exemptions. These broad categories have now been refined and narrowed as follows: 1) De minimis Items with an ivory content of less than 10% by volume, and which were made prior to 1947, will be exempted from this ban on commercial activities. A 10% by volume de minimis threshold will mean the UK has amongst the toughest approaches to this category of exemption internationally. We believe that 10% both meets the need for a strong threshold and will be practical to enforce. 24 To fall within this exemption items must have been made prior to 1947. This date is already well-known by those familiar with the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations with as the date from which ivory items currently require a CITES certificate in order to be sold. 2) Musical instruments Musical instruments with an ivory content of less than 20%, and which were made prior to 1975, will be exempted from this ban on commercial activities. An exemption for musical instruments with less than 20% ivory by volume will cover the vast majority of commonly used and traded instruments. 1975 is the date at which Asian elephants were first listed under CITES. We have opted for a later date than that applied to the de minimis exemption in recognition that many instruments, such as pianos and violin bows, continued to be made using ivory into the late 20th century. Many of these instruments will be in current use by professional musicians. We do not intend to affect the commercial use or performance using musical instruments that may not meet this exemption. 3) Portrait miniatures Portrait miniatures produced prior to 100 years before the coming into force of this ban will be exempted for commercial activities. Portrait miniatures are recognised as being a discrete category of item which, although often painted on thin slivers of ivory, are not valued for their ivory content. Portrait miniatures were painted on ivory primarily between the 17th and 19th centuries. Whilst we did not consult on an exemption for portrait miniatures, a number of respondents from the antiques sector, the public and some conservation NGOs, indicated that they believed this exemption would be proportionate and justified. We agree with this assessment as we do not believe that sales of portrait miniatures fuel, directly or indirectly, the continued poaching of elephants. Portrait miniatures must have been produced at least 100 years prior to this sales ban coming into force. 4) The rarest and most important items of their type Items made of, or containing, ivory, which are assessed as of outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value, and are an example of the rarest and most important item of their type, will be exempted from this ban on commercial activities. This is because we recognise that there is a, fairly small, number of ivory items that are of outstandingly high 25 artistic, historic or cultural significance and that may be assessed as being rare and important examples of their type, e.g. in their particular category of function, artistic or historical period etc. We do not believe that such items contribute directly or indirectly to the continued poaching of elephants. We will empower a limited number of institutions, such as selected museums, to provide advice to the Animal and Plant Health Authority on whether an item should be exempted under this category. This is because we believe it is critical assessments are made by specialists in their fields, and those who have the greatest knowledge and professional experience in their particular field. We will also provide statutory guidance to participating advisory institutions on the criteria that items falling under this exemption must meet. This guidance will draw on existing criteria used by government to assess works of art for pre-eminence and national significance. Items exempted under this category must have been produced at least 100 years prior to this sales ban coming into force.

 

https://assets.publishing.service.g...ile/696474/banning-ivory-consult-sum-resp.pdf

 

If this is the language of the ban, then I find that completely reasonable and would support it here in the US. I really don't want elephants or any other animal to disappear from our planet because once they do they are never going to come back. Keeping a couple of them alive to breed in a zoo is not a solution, though it seems to be where our world is headed, and I find that very sad.

It is too bad that the test to determine ivory age isn't cheap and easy and non-destructive, but until it is, this ban seems a good idea to me. And yes, I do have a few items that would be affected by this if I lived in the UK (since they are >10% ivory though I believe older than 1947). So be it.

 

the major market today is in China........so i suspect most UK stuff will get funneled thru there......

 

Most, if not all the stuff I have that the ban outlaws is very obviously older than 1947 and is of "outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value" so I'm not worried. Most museums would recognize and verify my things. I do have a few items that I'm a little more worried about, these Chinese puzzles (Canton 1790-1810) and this letter opener (India 1910-1920) but they stand me very little if I have to keep them for the rest of my life. I wonder how many Ivory items will come on to the UK market now this ban has been announced? will the market get flooded? will the price drop? I hope so

 

I'm still wondering what good the ban will do, but the law looks reasonable. It does make me wonder what happens to pieces of ivory jewelry made after 1900.

 

This is all very well but I have serious doubts that this ban or any other will stop Elephants being slaughtered for their Ivory.
It will simply drive the trade underground.

 

I don't think many people in the UK would buy recently harvested ivory, I don't think there is a market at all for that sort of thing in the UK, between 2009-2014 only 1.165 items (not tusks) were seized, now we are going to have to pay £60 to get every single item certificated This is just a political stunt

 

Hi,
These banns just drive me crazy. Every year thousands of pounds of tusks are burned and destroyed, since they were obtained illegally. If the items were sold it would drop the price of ivory and poachers would slow down their killing. It is the same with fur coats. I personally saw thousands and I mean thousands of fur coats burned as a protest. If the people who were protesting would have sold the damn coats instead of destroying them, less animals would have been spared.
greg

 

I know it's ridiculous, I wouldn't mind so much if the UK had a major problem with ivory smuggling but out of the 230 items seized each year only a very small fraction isn't declared, most of the 230 items come from holiday makers who didn't realise what they had bought as a souvenir, when they return from Africa they see the signs and declare it and it's "seized" by customs.
As for bringing down the price, why can't they farm elephants? they have been farming elephants in India for 100's of years. saying that, I don't think I would buy modern Ivory even if it was farmed, It just happens that ivory is very common on good quality antique boxes from Asia that I collect.

 

I have always stayed away from African ivory and ivory from China for that reason, India has had a ban for many decades and it's easy to tell from the quality of the item when it was made in India.

 

If I end up with ivory, it's by accident. It can't be sold where I live, so there's no point in buying it. The ban won't have one bit of effect on the Asian market; we Americans don't buy it much any more anyway, except the antique pieces I can't sell.

 

Can it not be sold under any circumstances where you live? Even pieces over 100 years old?

 

As far as I know, Connecticut bans just about any ivory sale. I think museum to museum and small amounts in furniture and musical instruments are still OK, but that's about it. Antique furniture made with ivory inlay would be fine, but it has to be documented. So for all intents and purposes, yeah. If you get it from a tag/rummage/estate sale etc you can't sell it without getting documentation that would cost more than your item is worth.

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2017/ba/2017HB-06335-R000257-BA.htm