On Ivory, as an Article of Manufacture

Abstract

Ivory, the substance of the elephant’s tusk, is a material with the appearance of which most persons are familiar. But few, perhaps, are aware that there are many varieties of this substance, differing materially from each other in composition, durability, and external appearance, and likewise in value; that they are differently affected by time, heat, and the atmosphere. It will, therefore, be the object of this paper to describe those differences. The principal sources from whence our supply of ivory is derived are the Western Coast of Africa and Hindoostan, and, according to the source whence derived, it receives the appellation of African or Indian ivory. Each of these kinds is again subdivided into varieties, indicative of the locality whence derived. Gambia, Angola, Cameroon, Cape Coast, c and Madras, Bombay, Siamese, and Ceylonese, some of the Asiatic varieties, each of them having some distinguishing character. The most esteemed of all these varieties is the Cameroon; there is no other that is equal to it in beauty, durability of colour, and fineness of grain. The appearance presented by ivory of this description, when cut into pieces, is semi-diaphanous. The colour varies in different tusks from a milky white to a pale gold colour, which last is designated by ivory dealers transparent. In some of the best tusks this transparency can be distinguished even on the outside of the tusk. This kind obtains the highest price in the market, being from ten to fifteen per cent ...