What are the laws on secondhand ivory nowdays?

[demographic]

The reason I am asking is because I bought an old drawing set about 10 or so years ago from an auction room for three quid or so (its so long that I can't remember the exact figure but it wasn't much) and reading on the internerd it looks like the pens might have ivory handles, the set isn't complete and I only bought it as a curiosity.

What are the current laws regarding ownership of ivory if it is?

Not that I would give it up anyway as it must be very old but I wouldn't mind knowing where I stand anyway.

Here it is...

Also, does anyone have any idea what I could clean it up with that won't damage the blueing on the pens?

Cheers, Scott.

 

[joejoe]

that is lovely,just ben on google and found a site called cane quest . should answer al your questions

 

[bushwacker bob]

Its legal to own it,but you can't sell or trade it without a CITES certificate to prove its pre-ban.
It appears that some evil-bay sellers are selling ivory trinkets as mammoth ivory,when it was clearly made very recently from un-fossilised/stained ivory.

 

[poddle]

If your item is post 1948 you need certification for it.

 

[Toddy]

I have some old needlework tools that look very much like those turned ends, but I know that mine are made of bone. You can see a kind of grain in bone, and frequently tiny little grey or fawn flecks.

Doe snayone know any other, non destructive, way to tell them apart?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[bushwacker bob]

Ivory has growth rings like a piece of wood.Cut lenghtways they are still visable.

 

[demographic]

If your item is post 1948 you need certification for it.

Not sure but the other ones I have seen on the net like it are nineteenth century but I don't know for sure.
Looking closer at them the pens are made by different makers as well which wouldn't help their "value".
Two of the pens are made by AG Thornton and the other two are unknown (sharp eyed observers might notice that there were only three pens in the picture but I found the other after the pic was taken.

I have some old needlework tools that look very much like those turned ends, but I know that mine are made of bone. You can see a kind of grain in bone, and frequently tiny little grey or fawn flecks.

Does anyone know any other, non destructive, way to tell them apart?

cheers,
Toddy

I have a bone teaspoon that I found in a wall I was demolishing years ago and the pens don't have the same flecks as that, plus I know that Thornton made ivory handled pens and as yet I have not found any bone handles pens on the net.

Ivory has growth rings like a piece of wood.Cut lenghtways they are still visable.

I can see what looks like growth rings on two of the pens but they are pretty faint, err dunno.

When its all said and done, I like them and whatever they are made of or worth am still keeping them but mightr take them into somewhere to see if I can find out a bit more.

Thanks very much for the input folks.
Scott.

 

[Tengu]

Keep them, you got a bargain and even if its not a set, this sort of thing is very valuable these days.

and if you need to do any technical drawing, you are ready.

(says she whos set is all odds and ends, and forget about the case)

 

[bushwacker bob]

My mother had an almost identical set and they were real Ivory.
Good gunsmiths sell a paint on gunbarrel blueing solution.