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To: SeeSharp

Glad to help!

Out of curiousity, I wonder how hard it is to distinguish elephant ivory from mammoth ivory. Is it visual, or do they use some high-tech instrumentation?


14 posted on 08/08/2014 4:49:56 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Pearls Before Swine

That I couldn’t say. I can tell you I looked into having a set of bagpipe ferrules made out of mammoth ivory back about ten years ago (thank God that was a passing phase). It was going to cost me around $8000 just for the ivory.


16 posted on 08/08/2014 4:56:19 AM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Out of curiousity, I wonder how hard it is to distinguish elephant ivory from mammoth ivory. Is it visual, or do they use some high-tech instrumentation?

It is quite easy with a bit of training. If you look closely at a piece of ivory you can see a feature called Schraeger Lines. It looks like a cross weave, almost like a coarse fabric is embedded in the material. The angle at which these lines cross each other is distinctive and readily identifies elephant from mammoth. HOWEVER, Customs people don't seem inclined to bother with this. They pretty much go on the assumption that all natural ivory is elephant. I have even heard of a case where, to determine if the ivory was legal artificial (plastic) they drove a hot metal pin into it - ruining it but determining that it was legal plastic.

25 posted on 08/08/2014 6:10:35 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes EVERYTHING)
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