Joe, I know a guy who regularly gets MO boss from a supplier in Greenland. It isn't the cheapest stuff, but he has sold 7" wide by 3/4" slabs for reasonable prices. Let me know when you are ready.
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Petrified or Fossilized?
I suppose it all depends on the subject, how long it has been buried and how.
Petrified fossils are 100% stone - all the organic matter has been replaced with minerals. Fossilized remains gradually have the organic components leached away and replaced by minerals in water, so there is a part-way process where organic and mineral matter co-exist.
Some mammoth ivory is dredged off the sea bed - it has never been buried. Some mammoths fell into tar pits, so there was never a question of water bearing minerals penetrating them. Some were buried and fully fossilized. Some were buried and partly fossilized.
Mastodons and mammoths may have been around for a very long time (5 million years ago), but they only disappeared about 10 thousand years ago in europe and 4.5 thousand years ago in Siberia. A small sub-group remained until 3.75 thousand years ago before full extinction.
The rather vague amount of time it takes to call something a true fossil is something like 10 thousand years.
Regards,
Neil
Bye federal law (U.S) all pre 1972 walrus Ivory is considered FOSSIL, go figure:)
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Hey Joe, I found some musk ox boss for a very decent price. PM sent.