Federal effort could outlaw old ivory
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 Protect this signed Japanese bronze elephant sculpture with ivory tusks. It was made in about 1900 and sold in March 2014 at a Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, N.Y., for $920. If the suggested new antique ivory regulations become law, this antique bronze will be worthless because it will be illegal to sell it or even give it to a museum.
May 29, 2014 Terry Kovel/King Feature Syndicate
An heirloom bronze elephant with ivory tusks, great-grandmother's piano with ivory keys, a vintage ivory chess set or an antique silver teapot with a small ivory inset in the handle to keep it cool may be "endangered" by proposed laws that could be in place sometime in June. Buying, selling or importing ivory from recently killed African elephants already is illegal and has been for about 25 years.
But an executive order issued by President Barack Obama would extend the ban to include all antique ivory harvested from elephants that died before 1914. There would be a law forbidding sales, even gifts to museums, of any ivory, including antique pieces. This affects antiques dealers and collectors, knife makers and collectors, Inuit craftsmen, owners of mahjong and chess sets, and manufacturers of musical instruments, including guitars and violins — the list could go on.
And those in favor of strong endangered species laws want to also insist that all confiscated antique carved ivory art be destroyed — not even given to a museum. Already thousands of pounds of ivory art objects have been destroyed. This will cause huge losses to companies, collectors and museums.
There's still time to contact your U.S. senator, representative or the Fish & Wildlife Service to make your thoughts known. For links to more detailed information, go to www.kovels.com/latest-news/new-ivory-ban.html.
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