Now, here is an emotive subject –

            Ivory carvings are amongst the most tactile and wondrous pieces of art to hold and admire. The texture of ivory is unlike anything else a person may handle, and the subtle colour shades, which change with age, are incredibly beautiful.

            Ivory has been worked since pre-historic times, and has been particularly revered in the Far East for thousands of years, to the extent that the Chinese elephant was hunted to extinction for its ivory by the sixth century BC. For almost 3000 years, then, the Chinese have had to import their ivory. The Romans and Greeks of the classical period loved their ivory too, and they’d hunted the North African elephant to extinction by the time of Christ. 

            Ivory was extremely rare in Europe and had to be imported through the old silk routes, making it a really exotic and expensive material. It wasn’t until the late sixteenth century, when it began to come in by ship, that it became more available to the carvers. By the beginning of the nineteenth century ivory was becoming more readily available, and therefore less expensive, so many more items were made during this period.

            London was the world’s busiest ivory market during the nineteenth century, with shiploads coming in weekly to be sold by auction to the highest bidder in the many ivory stock rooms situated along the Thames. Tusks from 5,000 elephants arrived into London’s port each year. Buyers would travel from all over the world to buy tusks for their carving factories back home.

            Companies of elephant hunters would spend years at a time in the African bush picking out the finest and most impressive tusks to bring back to market. These tusks would be dragged and carried over hundreds of miles before being loaded aboard ships for the long journey to Britain. Often referred to as white gold, ivory was a big money earner for those who hunted it, dealt in it, and carved it. The world couldn’t get enough of it.

            Although ivory has been worked for millennia, it is surprising to learn that some of the finest carvings actually come from recent history. The Japanese ended a self-imposed isolation in about 1868, and the craftsmen who had for hundreds of years simply carved for the Japanese home market turned their attention to the international trade. The works of art created by these carvers during the Meiji period (1869-1912) for export can be astonishingly fine in detail and quality. Today, for example, the finest Japanese ivory Netsuke (pronounced Net-Ski), which are miniature sculptures, often only 1.5 inches long and used as toggles, can be worth tens of thousands of pounds. 

            During the twentieth century the demand for ivory never waned. Some of the most expensive art deco figures of the 1920s and 1930s have ivory heads, hands, or feet.  Walking sticks, binoculars, magnifying glasses, letter openers, broaches, cigarette holders, tea caddies, and so on have all been made from ivory.

            Because of the huge worldwide appetite for ivory, during the 1970s and 1980s ivory poaching became a massive problem in Africa. With easy access to cheap weapons from civil wars, and even easier money, poachers devastated the elephant population, which shrank from 1.3 million in 1979 to 600,000 in 1989. The scale of poaching was so enormous that it threatened African economies, requiring countries to spend tremendous amounts of money on fighting poachers. Known as the ivory wars, many human lives, of both poachers and game wardens, were lost. 

            The ivory trade was banned in 1989 in an attempt to stop poaching and protect elephants. The laws are incredibly confusing and full of loopholes, but the basic nuts and bolts are simple. It is legal to sell any carved ivory item if you can prove it was worked before 1947. Anything worked after that date is illegal to sell. 

            Sadly, the ban hasn’t stopped poaching, though, and last year an estimated 38,000 elephants were killed. The ivory is generally exported to China, where it is worked into novelty items and then distributed around the globe. Amazingly, London, the biggest ivory market during the nineteenth century, is now one of the largest markets in the world for the sale of illegal ivory carvings.

            Smuggled into the country with ease by post, in hand luggage, or mixed up with legal imports on container ships, ivory from recently poached elephants is being passed off as antique through markets, centres, and auction rooms by a minority of unscrupulous dealers and importers, who are making fortunes by cashing in on the little-known laws governing ivory sales and on the lack of enforcement by the powers that be. Some items are stained with tea to look old, but many look as fresh a daisy, a sign that the sellers feel completely confident about breaking the law and being safe from prosecution.

Buying Ivory Today

            Although I feel passionately about this, I don’t have a problem with owning ivory carvings as long as they are genuinely old. 

            If you buy ivory today, don’t buy from a market stall or tinpot auction room; make sure you are purchasing from a real expert. A good dealer (a member of LAPADA or BADA for example) or a respected auction will be able to advise and guide you through the process. They should by law categorically guarantee the item’s provenance and age, supplying you with a legal document, which will enable you to sell the piece on if required in the future – and, more importantly, set your mind at rest that you are not funding the killing of one of the world’s most majestic, intelligent, and wonderful creatures.

Copyright. David Harper. 2008