Ivory Trade Store: Collecting Ivory

APPRECIATING AND CARING FOR YOUR IVORY COLLECTION

Your collection is a precious commodity that took years to assemble and great deal of money to purchase - it is an investment that needs protection from extremes and sudden changes - a glass front cabinet with controlled temperature, light and humidity is best suited to protect your collection from dust, smoke, fumes and other pollutants.

a small cup with water, inside the case, will keep the right (55-65%) humidity level to keep your ivory crack-free for many years.

in general, ivory and water are friends, and if needed a gentle rinse with water to remove dirt or dust is recommended.

It is not recommended to handle too much with your hands, oils from Your hands will be easily absorbed by the ivory and it will discolor - white cotton gloves are best for handling or examining your items and will keep their natural patina intact.

TYPES OF IVORY:

ELEPHANT:
Most prized ivory comes from the African elephant who possesses larger tusks than its Asian cousin although both are similar in quality and workablity - high density material showing criss-cross line pattern/grain when polished in a certain way (angle between crossing lines is 120%).

MAMMOTH:
tusks of the gigantic ancestor of the elephant have been harvested in huge quantities from Siberia’s frozen tundras and from Alaska - from the 17th century and mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries - great loads have been shipped from Russia to China and the west.

Very similar in mechanical properties to the elephant tusk, sometimes showing beautiful coloration from mineral deposits in the ground, it was buried in - it also has a criss-cross pattern although the angle between crossing lines is sharper than found on elephant tusks (60%).

Some are huge, up to 500 lb for a pair.

WALRUS:
The ‘native’ European ivory found in Scandinavia’s early artifacts and Inuit Eskimo works - not as dense as elephant tusk - has a typical, distinctive ‘marbled’ appearance and an off-white tone - reaching in average 2.5-3.5 feet in length.

HIPPO:
The large African ‘sea-horse’ has supplied tusks to the ivory trade as early as the 2nd century BC - in ancient Rome, his tusks were used for dentures - large quantities where exported to China and Japan mainly in the 18th century till this day.

It is the Hardest of all ivories and has a wavy-line grain - tusks each 24" in length.

WHALE TOOTH:
For the most part taken from the sperm-whale, reaching up to 9-10" in length - used for carving in the east and for scrimshaw decorations in America and Europe - hard, dense material with striated

grain - off-white in color.

OTHER IVORIES:

* Narwhale tusk (Unicorn of the sea) is a long, straight and swirly tooth reaching up to 10 feet in length - hollow inside with tree-bark texture outside - not fitting for any large carving because of the natural size limit - canes, handles and small carvings can be found - this is an endangered species and tusks are rare.

* Boar’s tusk, the upper canine of a wild boar - usually up to 7-8" in length, small, curvy carvings - the profile is triangular.

*Vegetable ivory from the nut of a South-American palm called Tagua - circular grain, dull and softer than ivory and bone.

*Stag antlers - from the reindeer, elk, European stag and related species - the center is spongy and porous but the outer layer is denser and harder than bone - many used by Netsuke carvers in Japan since the 17th century.

*Bone - usually the tibia or the shin bone from any animal possible with emphasis on elephant, cow, camel and whale - spongy center and carving mostly show a ‘dotted’ surface

WHAT TO COLLECT?

There are a few types of ivory collectors.

one is the non discriminating collector who just loves ivory and gets pretty much what ever he sees judging only by the carving's quality and discarding subject matter, origin and age.

The other is and origin collector who just buys ivory carvings from a certain country, province or period.

the third would be a subject matter collector who looks just for carvings of women, animals or Buddhist deities and so forth.

The forth would be a strictly investment oriented buyer who buys everything he thinks is a bargain, trying to build a strong future cash-out collection.

It is hard to advise here as to the way you should go, as for me, I belong to the first group and judge carvings just by their artistic value and the craftsmanship invested in them.

As a general rule, since You will probably spend years with your collection, buy what you like and you cannot go wrong,