Walrus Tusk

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firewhatfire

firewhatfire

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Joined
Mar 7, 2011
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Columbiana, Alabama
At the show I was doing over the weekend, A gentleman came by and mentioned he had some Walrus tusk from a hunt he went on back in the early 70's I know there are alot of regulations on pre-ban Ivory and getting it into the the states. Are there any things I should be worried about for Ivory that is already here. He wants me to make an offer on the set. It is most likely out of my league but you never know until you make it. Could I legally sell the pens made form the set? Here is a photo of what he has.
walrustusk.jpg
 
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Your well into a gray area on this one. White folk and none "fossil" walrus Ivory is a fairly big no no. You MIGHT be able to buy it to hang on a wall IF he is native and followed registration procedures but I wouldn't cut this up for resale! And in my opinion it would not be legal to sell pens made from it! I am not a lawyer best thing to do is call your local fish and wildlife service office.
 
your going to need a paper trail showing it was taken before 1973(?), the more people who can sign off on it the better..every piece will need copies
 
IF, you make an attempt at turning the material, this is my experience with it.
You need VERY sharp tools, go light and easy. Check frequently for small internal cracks and lines that might blow out. I did two pens from tusk for a client from his supplied material (broken pieces). Will finish with CA and polish and look very nice. The ones I did had some gray and light yellow colorations in the material.
 
I think my best bet is to just not fool with them. I may just pass them along to Boone Trading and see if the can sell them to or through them. I sent an email asking about Cites paperwork and all. Still no response. Thanks for the info.
 
Akula said:
your going to need a paper trail showing it was taken before 1973(?), the more people who can sign off on it the better..every piece will need copies
Click to expand...

Some materials can not be altered or can only be altered by some one of native decent even if you have the paper trail. Whale baleen is a great example of that. Perfectly legal for a Native Alaskan to make me a bow backed with baleen but if I make the same bow it could mean some hefty fines and time sitting. Even if I have documentation going back to 1900. CITIES is not the only reg on this stuff and pre ban doesn't always mean it can be worked.
 
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