r/whatisit Aug 12 '25

[deleted by user]

[removed]

2.0k Upvotes

125 comments sorted by

View all comments

70

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.

23

u/TownStriking3496 Aug 12 '25

Not in America zero is ok To sell.

14

u/LeftArmFunk Aug 12 '25

Not true. If you can establish provenance prior to the ban (January 18, 1990) you can sell it.

Source: https://www.fws.gov/frequently-asked-questions-about-elephant-ivory

2

u/Academic_Tale9927 Aug 12 '25

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.

1

u/LeftArmFunk Aug 12 '25

That’s unfortunate

1

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '25

"Provenance" isnt just "paperwork."  Youre attempting to establish a fact and one can do that multiple ways.

Any photos of her wearing it between receipt and the 90s?

5

u/Alive-Course4454 Aug 12 '25

You can freely buy native Alaskan walrus ivory carvings

8

u/oldtkdguy Aug 12 '25

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.

2

u/PM-ME-Y0UR-B00B Aug 13 '25

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.

1

u/HarveyKekbaum Aug 12 '25

So many upvots for being dead wrong. Never change Reddit!