Quote:
Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
I agree that the ivory shown here is most likely elephant ivory.
However, ivory from some other animals does also display schreger lines. An expert in this field of ivory identification can in most cases differentiate the source of an ivory, however, in the case of mammoth ivory it can be somewhere between difficult & impossible to be absolutely certain with any identification.
Fossil ivory has been used in Indonesian artifacts in the past, & is still being used in Indonesian carvings today. In Bali a tour of shops, galleries & workshops that sell ivory carvings will almost always identify the ivory carvings being offered as "mammoth ivory".
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I suppose a lot of ivory being offered bears the heading ‘mammoth ’ because mammoth ivory is legal to trade. I think it is hard to prove that it is mammoth at the request of customs.
Regards
Marc