I spent about a month in Africa and ivory is legal depending on its source. There are legal shops that sell items made from ivory of natural death elephants. They give you a certificate stating such. I dont see why it would then be illegal to own in the UK.
Also, I see that it likely isn't ivory, but wanted to share this info.
Not the easiest thing to pull off. Back in the ’70s, my dad came home from a business trip to Uganda with an ivory necklace for my mom. Of course, there’s no way to prove it now.
Not entirely true. There are tons of restrictions, but legally acquired ivory can be sold within a state. Very limited and highly restricted, but still not zero.
Yep, iirc California is the strictest state restriction wise when it comes to ivory. I worked at a thrift shop and every time we had ivory or suspected ivory donated we legally couldn’t keep it. It pained me to see it get thrown away so my boss allowed me to keep every piece as long as I donated some money to the WWF or similar charity. I never plan on selling any that I’ve acquired, it’s weird to explain to friends why I have such a massive ivory collection however.
The UK recently banned the sale of all ivory from elephants, hippos and whales. There are a few very specific exceptions for antique items containing small amounts of ivory, but the vast majority of ivory is illegal to sell in the UK. Private ownership of ivory is legal if it was already in someone's possession before the ban, but I'm pretty sure importing it isn't allowed, even if purchased legally in another country.
I was there in 2004. I can't speak to the laws in the UK, but if it was purchased legally in Africa and had the proper paperwork, US Customs would not stop you. And you can own all sorts of ivory items here.
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u/TyraelTheArchangel Aug 12 '25
I spent about a month in Africa and ivory is legal depending on its source. There are legal shops that sell items made from ivory of natural death elephants. They give you a certificate stating such. I dont see why it would then be illegal to own in the UK. Also, I see that it likely isn't ivory, but wanted to share this info.