Posted on 02/16/2014 12:17:28 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Funny how quickly those warped minds converge when the name “Ayers” comes up.
Except your likely to get it confiscated no matter and then destroyed before you can prove it’s legal. If you even can.
Right?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/ivory-age-test-is-key-to-trade-ban-1-1363787
Published today, how about that?
Only live elephants need ivory. After they die humans should be tree to enjoy it.
One issue with a lot of pre-ban ivory (and other things like certain rare species of wood) is that you have to be able to prove how old the ivory or wood itself is. If you have ivory keys on a old piano, or inlaid in a vintage Gibson mandolin for example, the age of the instrument is not proof the ivory is pre-ban, you still have to be able to prove that the ivory itself is old enough to allow transport across international borders or to be sold in a commercial transaction in the U.S. (in other words just showing the serial number of the instrument dates it back 1930 means nothing).
Proving how old individual parts of an item are is next to impossible of course, and it’s the reason concert pianists have replaced the ivory keys on old pianos with plastic, and why many musicians have stopped traveling with vintage instruments.
In the U.S. you will probably have the item seized by Customs or the Fish and Wildlife Service but if you can afford an expert witness you have a small chance of getting it back if you show up at a special court that decides these things (assuming it’s legitimately vintage). If you are traveling overseas many countries just automatically seize any ivory or rare woods without regard to age, or items containing them, and there’s zero chance of ever getting it back.
Even in the U.S., if some Gov’t official decides to seize an item, the Gov’t bears no burden at all to prove anything, it will be 100% up to you to have documentation in order to get it back.
” it is LEGAL TO OWN, SELL, BUY, or SHIP within the boundaries of the U.S. and there are NO PERMITS or REGISTRATION requirements!”
That is, unless Gibson wants to use it for guitar inlays!
“Or a custom-made leather lampshade.”
Custom-crafted by Ed Gein?
“They’re ivory. Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl-handled pistol.”
George S. Patton
This states only ivory from elephants alive pre-1947 is legal.
I have ivory purchased in the South Pacific in 1975 and presumably from China. It could easily come from elephants alive after 1947, yet when I purchased it and brought it into the US, it was legal.
OTOH, one of my smaller pieces is likely not ivory at all, but bone. I see pieces on eBay all the time that resemble my ivory and they all say *bone* and are priced accordingly.
At one time, several years ago, my large, common, carved ivory bridge was selling on eBay for $1500 or more. I believe I paid around $250 for it in 1975. I believe I bought it in Australia.
Well, a lot die to get their ivory.
Two-thirds of forest elephants killed by ivory poachers in past decade
The forest elephants of Africa have lost almost two-thirds of their number in the past decade due to poaching for ivory, a landmark new study revealed on Tuesday. The research was released at an international wildlife summit in Bangkok where the eight key ivory-trading nations, including the host nation Thailand and biggest market China, have been put on notice of sweeping trade sanctions if they fail to crack down on the trade.
“The analysis confirms what conservationists have feared: the rapid trend towards extinction – potentially within the next decade – of the forest elephant,” said Samantha Strindberg of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), one of 60 scientists on the research team.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/05/two-thirds-forest-elephants-killed
Well, it won’t do the elephant any good now.
Giving up your piece of ivory is not going to bring the elephant back to life.
What about Walrus tusk?
I admit to knowing absolutely nothing about walrus tusks. Or boar tusks. Or any other tusks. Walrus tusks seem to be for sale all over the internet, though.
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