Evening journal., 1893-02-02
IVORY AND IT'S USES.
WHY CARVED ORNAMENTS IN IVORY
ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.

in This Countrywide Price Of Elcrhanta' |
Tuslss Has Not Greatly Changed in Re-
cent Years-A Costly Luxury.
When Whitelaw Reid was in search Of
. workman to decorate apartments at
Ophir Farm with rich and beautiful an
hques brought over from Europe he
found that there was but one man IN
America who could do such work, and
he lay sick. Had Mr.. Reid been in search
Of skilled ivory carvers he would have
found them almost as scarce. There are
not above three or four ivory carvers of
approved skill in New York, and hardly
80 many in all the rest Of the country.
The men who do such work are paid
high wages the year round. whether
busy or idle. They are Frenchmen. Ger
mans and Italians. OF the three the
Italians are perhaps the most skillful,
since ivory carving has been an art in a
high degree Of perfection among the
Italians for centuries The most famous
ivory carver living, however, is q French
man, Moreau Nauthier. Few of his
masterpieces have been seen in America,
though two We're sold at the famous
Morgan art sale of u few years ago. and
two more held at q great price. are now
in the possession Of a noted American
jeweler.
The ivory carvers of this country DO
little or nothing in the East Indian or
Japanese manner, nor do they occupy
themselves with figure work. Their chief
toilet and stationery articles. The rage
for stained and carved ivory is of recent
growth in the United States. and the de-
mand for such articles is not large, as
they are moro costly than the same
articles in silver would be. They wero
produced to tickle the jaded aesthetic
palates of the rich and luxurious, and
only those who may trife away what
they viii indulge themselves to any
considerable degree in carved ivory.
In all such articles the cost Of the raw
material is small in comparison with
that Of the labor. Billiard balls arc
costly because they contain large guam
titles of the finest ivory cut from the
best part of the tusk The labor cost Of
billiard balls is triaing, as they are
turned by machinery and rapidly Thus
it often happens that a single small arti-
Gle, richly stained and carved. viii cost
five times as much as a billiard ball con-
tanning ten times the weight Of ivory.
The carvers of ivory use much the same
tools as the wood carvers, but Of lighter
and more delicate make. The work is
extremely tedious and laborious.
The carving is usually done in low re-
lief, and the subjects are such as are
suitable TO this trcatment-Persian de-
signs in delicate curves, the cactus, with
some varieties Of palm, and hints caught
from those marvelously simple but ar
tistic carvings Of the Alaskan Indians,
The ivory is stained slightly, so as to
bring ont the design. and IS permitted t.
absorb moisture, which it readily does
in order to give it that fresh look com
mon in newly manufactured articles OF
ivory. The art of staining ivory is q
secret guarded well by the carvers.
Some notion Of the cost of ivory cary
ing may be had from the fact that, while
a hand mirror framed in plain ivory may
be had for ten or twelve dollars, a mir
ror in carved ivory may cost 500 OF
more The small articles in carved
ivory cost from five to twenty-five dol
lars, and q toilet set in that material
may fetch as high as $500. The Ameri
can climate, with its extremes of heat
and cold. is very trying upon ivory, and
ivory backed mirrors of European manu-
facture almost invariably crack acrOs.
the back after a few months Of use upon
this side of the Atlantic. The American
manufacturers have hit upon the expe
dent of leaving a space between glass
and frame in order TO allow for contrac
tion and expansion.
Nearly all the ivory brought TO the
United States is bought in the great Lon
don market. where the price is knocked
about by bulls and bears. VINO corner
ivory as they corner wheat or corn. The
African rather than the Asiatic ivory Il
brought to this country, though one o
the largest tuslls ever seen in this mar
ket-that of sacred East Indian ele
phant-has just been mounted in orien
tai style as a trophy Of the chase. Thl
tusk measures more than six feet il
! length and retains the marks it bore wheI
worn by the sacred beast to which it be
longed. Thanks to the predatory an,
murderous industry of Iippu Tib an'
his black Zanzibaris the supply Of ivor!
has kept pace with the increased demand
resulting from its extended use in thi
: country, and the price for the raw ma
terial has not permanently advanced.
Few tusks of more than five feet il
length come 60 this country, and man!
are less than four feet long. Many O
the tusl,s reach here after having beei
6 buried in Africa for years TO save then
/ from thieyish enemies of the savag
owners Every tusl must go through
process Of seasoning, long or short, &c
rording as tho process is natural OF arii
fetal. before il is made up into article
Of ornament or use. lt is difficult TO oil
] tain a perfect slab Of ivory moro tina
z six inches in diameter. as the upper en-
Of the tusly, which is the thickest. IS hoI
p low and the material is coarser than tha
D in the solid part of the tusk
From the latter are made billiard ball
and the most beautifully carved article
] q o H..