Featured Ivory Elephants in a Row

Here's a piece that I'm pretty sure is ivory but I don't know what kind or where it is from. The piece has been in my family for over 60 years, and I used to delight in holding it as a child (I'm old).

The ivory part is 6 inches long and 1-1/4 inches tall.

It looks like maybe someone along the line nailed it to the base as it's a pretty sloppy nail job. I imagine it originally would have just been placed on the stand but I don't know for sure.

I darkened the two pics of the bottom in PhotoShop to better see the grain.

Any thoughts on this? Could it be valuable? What do the experts think?

 

Hi Sam!

Welcome to Antiquers..........

I wish I could help. Others will be along though....hang tight!

 

Where do you live? So many rules & regulations these days about not being able to sell ivory (I don't know enough to verify if it is or isn't).

 

I live in the US but this was received in the family before the 1990 and 1976 regulations on ivory went into effect. Google tells me there were new bans on African ivory passed in 2016. I don't have documentation of when it was imported unfortunately. It looks complicated!

 

It is ivory.

It is, because the written documentation standard is one most people can't meet.

 

Where I live, selling ivory is problematic. I'm in Connecticut, btw. As far as I'm concerned ivory is worth less than its plastic copies, because I can legally sell those without interference. Ivory requires a paper trail and all sorts of hoops to jump through.

 

Yes, ivory. Probably carved in India. And, as others have explained, without documentation it is too problematic/illegal to sell.

 

I've literally given ivory away, but since the laws changed haven't sold any nor tried.

 

I suppose if I had it tested and it turned out to be from mammoth tusk, that would document that it is more than 100 years old. Based on the Schreger Lines, it looks like elephant, but I don't know enough about grain to tell for sure. It does seem like too much trouble to take the chance. That's what I get for procrastinating on selling it. Should have done this 30 years ago.

 

Or even 10. Now ... ?

 

How so? Mammoth tusks continue to be found & slip into trade. See this thread:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/petrified-fossilized-something.35713/#post-539698

and this very good site referenced within it. Your piece does not look at all like mammoth ivory:

https://www.fws.gov/lab/ivory_natural.php

 

When I was a kid (1960's) my best friend's Dad had one of these on the desk in his home office. I used to love looking at it, finding the differences from one elephant to the next. It brings back very fond memories!

 

Elephants carved in ivory, especially these parades of them were everywhere it seems, when I was a kid. I was fascinated by a little jewellery box my grandmother had with an elephant on the top. It was actually made of Celluloid, but tells you the well to do had such things in real ivory.

 

The irony of course being all of these rules and laws have made very little impact on ivory poaching. I have a friend who sells stuff like this in his booth as "bone" though he knows full well its ivory. He figures the buyers will know that as well,and if he gets called out on it he can claim ignorance.

 

Me too. I had a really nice ivory bangle I gave to a friend last year because I knew I could not sell it

 

I have heard tales at jewellery shows of people being hit with some serious fines. Not sure they accept ignorance as an excuse. Also not sure who 'they' are, who enforces.

 

It isn't mammoth.

Here in Europe the general rule is that you need an appraisal report and an official certificate to prove that it dates from before 1947, the year of the first Cites agreement.
Pieces like your elephants were imported when it was perfectly legal to do so, which is why it is unfair. And of course no one thought there would ever be this large scale poaching problem and it would be necessary to have receipts etc.
The elephants have age and could even pre-date 1947, but without proof....

As you've already read, many of us are faced with that problem. All my ivory is antique, the oldest piece dates from ca 14th century. No receipt, obviously. I haven't bought any ivory since it became illegal here.

 

imo.....the carving is very crudely done....with not much age...

 

I Guess it's from India or most probably from Thailand.