Is this legal?

[Maraya1969]

http://www.knifehandles.com/mammoth-ivory-pipes.html

These pipes feature handcarved mammoth ivory renderings of either a Victorian lady with an intricate hat or a snake preying on a toad. The shaft of the pipe is made from buffalo horn. Measures 2 1/4" H x 6" W x 1 1/4" D. Snake measurements are the same except for it's 1 3/8" H

[ZombieHorde]

1. I was curious so I googled it...

This website says yes... http://www.gustavus.com/heidi/laws.html

MAMMOTH & MASTODON-
Although these are two different species of ancient elephant, the cut ivory looks the same. Commerce in this 8,000-12,000 year old ivory is completely unrestricted. A great deal of this ivory in cut form looks practically identical to elephant ivory (except for the outer layer where all the color and weathering is).

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Forensics Laboratory has discovered a reliable indicator for differentiating between prehistoric mammoth and modern elephant ivory. Color is no indication; it is the angle that the cross grain lines bisect themselves. Angles of less than 90% indicate that it's mammoth/mastodon, angles greater than 120% show that it's elephant. This information is now being shared with customs and wildlife agents around the world so that mammoth ivory will clear customs inspections and not be subject to seizures or delays.

[NYC_SKP]

4. It's a beautiful substance, the double grain and its workability.

I have some ivory, including old ivory billard balls.

One of the old James Burke shows, "Connections" or "the Day the Universe Changed" had a segment on ivory and on the search for a suitable replacement in the 19th century when it began to be scarce...

:thumbsup:

[baldguy]

6. ...which led to the development of nitroglycerin & other chemical explosives

If I recall correctly.

[NYC_SKP]

8. And then to modern plastics. Modern billiard balls are made of phenolic resin.

Elephant ivory was a hard substance to replace, light but strong in tension and compression and not prone to splitting as much as wood.

Love the James Burke series, most of the shows are on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesBurkeWeb

[NYC_SKP]

2. Antique elephant ivory is OK. Mammoth Ivory is OK, unless you kill a mammoth to get it.

Kidding on that last part.

The elephant ivory ban is to protect remaining elephant populations.

Non-antique elephant ivory is forbidden, but there's lots of old elephant ivory that's ok to sell and transport, and to rework into different items.

But this is mammoth ivory, and that turns up a lot and I've never read that there was a ban on it.

:hi:

[Brickbat]

3. Delete.

[DRoseDARs]

5. I don't see why not. Mammoths have been extinct longer than we've had agriculture.

And the buffalo horns could have come from an already-dead buffalo, or one that was hunted and used in full instead of poached for its horns. Doesn't say when these pipes were made; could be very old and predate applicable laws.

[Canuckistanian]

7. It's not like mammoths are endangered

And scientists have enough mammoth tusk to do research.

So I don't see the harm. I'd be more concerned about the buffalo horn - how it was harvested, etc.