Thread: Need mammoth info!

Mike, if you are able to get legal pre-ban elephant ivory shipped to you, Joe at Cue Components here in Florida is Da Man!! He has been collecting the stuff for like 35 years and has enough that he can cut it to any size you want. He said that he has sold a fair amount precut slabs to guys who make or rehandle razors. It is very spendy, but it is top quality stuff. I have a thin slab that i got from him long time ago that I eventually plan to use for inlay or spacer material and just haven't got around to it yet..

A luthier that I met stopped using pre ban ivory after wondering why it seemed to be inexhaustible.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

A guitar maker that I met stopped using pre ban ivory after wondering why it seemed to be inexhaustible.

are tons of legal preban Ivory in the U.S,just go here and buy a small 70 lb tusk, will last you for many lifetimes.
Boone Trading Company - Ivory and Scrimshaw
Or go here if you want some of the best fossil Ivory available.
http://www.osofamoso.com/

Yea I heard it all before, the misrepresentations of the "elephant issue" and yada yada yada and the inexhaustible supply of old Ivory. I'll bet every other family has some uncle who went on a safari 50 years ago and brought back Ivory and has a tusk or two just sitting in the basement. Also of course there is a paper trail. If you believe all that then you would believe El Chapo could be held long in any Mexican prison.

This was my business and I dealt with it and the crates come into the U.S every day full of poached illegal ivory and only a fraction is caught. That is where the supply comes from.

The ban is the only way to stop it.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yea I heard it all before, the misrepresentations of the "elephant issue" and yada yada yada and the inexhaustible supply of old Ivory. I'll bet every other family has some uncle who went on a safari 50 years ago and brought back Ivory and has a tusk or two just sitting in the basement. Also of course there is a paper trail. If you believe all that then you would believe El Chapo could be held long in any Mexican prison.

This was my business and I dealt with it and the crates come into the U.S every day full of poached illegal ivory and only a fraction is caught. That is where the supply comes from.

The ban is the only way to stop it.

Sorry Big, your living in the past,are you aware of the changes in the past 3 mos.?

Don't mean to be an asshole here but isn't cocaine and opium banned also ,, it hasn't stopped or illegal immigration ,, so I'm pretty sure the ban won't stop it unless we're more concerned about Ivory than drugs. Just my take on it. Tc

You need to understand how the ban works,are hundreds of 100 yr old steinway pianos held by customs in new york,they cannot be shipped anywhere,will this save the elephants? are tons of 100 % 90 yr old Ivory that was imported (leagaly) some well over 100 yrs old.
Will this save the elephants? Look to China and japan,both can buy Poached Ivory by legal international law,banning them will save the elephants.
Great Britan has huge stocks if Ivory,They sell to the above countrys all the time.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yea I heard it all before, the
This was my business and I dealt with it and the crates come into the U.S every day full of poached illegal ivory and only a fraction is caught. That is where the supply comes from.

The ban is the only way to stop it.

I was unaware of this. Of course I don't have direct information, its hard to believe much of anything that i don't see for myself. And so we are left with taking and believing information from sources we decide to trust or not. People with financial interests in a subject could be considered dubious sources for information, also those inclined to believe one way or another (everybody?) Hehe :/ ugh.
Well it does seem to me that there is truth in what you say. Don't know what your job was but what you wrote makes sense.
If I can find a piece that I can honestly confirm was taken years and years ago then I'll get it and finish purchasing ivory. After that its mammoth.

The reference to the war on drugs is a valid point and presents serious issues that should be considered. Haven't thought about the connection much yet, but the war on drugs made a persistent element a chronic disease. It made drugs way more profitable. Something our people should have learned from alcohol prohibition and the mob... But then again mob mentality was most likely utilized by those who would benefit from it all (the ones who probably DID learn from prohibition of the early 20th century) and the voter is an emotional creature.
Anyway, the solution? I don't know except that it's different than what's been done. Stop supply? Perhaps a good start. Stop demand? Is it possible... ? Maybe that's only something only the individual can answer, because this problem goes way beyond elephants, it goes straight to the core of our problem as a species and how long we get to enjoy the resources that are turning out to be exhaustible.
Sorry for the philosophy, this is a loaded subject.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Sorry Big, your living in the past,are you aware of the changes in the past 3 mos.?

Changes are that more and more elephants fall victim to poachers due to increased demand by a wealthier than ever middleclass in South East Asia, some of it is smuggled to the West. Not all ivory labelled as pre-ban is really pre-ban. In many countries certificates labelling ivory pre-ban are for sale.