Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-17
IVORY AND IT'S Uses.
How This Costly Material 10 Carved Into
Manifold shapes.

How This Costly Material 10 Carved Into
Manifold Shapes.
From the New Yori Sun
When Mr.. Whitelaw Reid was in search Of q
workman to decorate apartments at Ophir
Farm with rich and beautiful antiques brought
over from Europe h 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 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. Germans
and Italians. or 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 a
Frenchman, Moreau vauthler. Few of his
masterpieces have been seen in America
though two we're sold at the famous Morgan
art sale Of few years ago and two more. held
at 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 man
ner. nor do thsy occupy themselves with figure
work. Their chief employment is in producing
decorative toilet and stationery articles. The
rage for stained and carved ivory is of recent
growth in the United States and the demand
for such articles is not large. as they are more
costly than the same articles in silver would be-
They were produced to tickle the faded asthe-
tic palates of the rich and luxurious. and only
those who may trife away what they will in
dulge themselves to any considerable degree in
carved ivory.
In all such articles the cost of the raw mate
rial Is small in comparison with that of the
labor. how
contain large quantities Of the finest ivory cut
from the best part of the tusk The labor cost
OF billiard balls is trifing. they are turned by
machinery and rapidly. Thus it often hap
pens that single small article, richly stained
and carved, will cost five times rs much as a
billiard ball containing ten times the weight of
ivory. The carvers of ivory use much the same
tools as the wood carvers. but OF light and
more delicate make. The work IL extremely
tedious and lsborious. The carving is usually
done In low relief and the subjects are such as
are suitable to this treatment-Persan designs
In delicate curves, the cactus, with some varle-
ties OF palm, and hints caught from those
marveiously simple but artistic carving of the
Alaskan Indians. The ivory is stained slightly
SO as to bring out the design and is permitted
to absorb moisture. which it readily does, in
order to give 1t that fresh look common 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 carving may
be had from the fact that while hand mirror
framed in plain ivory may be had for $40 or
Sl2, mirror in carved ivory may cost 800 or
more. The small articles in carved ivory cost
from IS to s25. and toilet set in that mater
ial may fetch as high as $500. The American
Climate. with its extremes of heat and cold. is
very trying upon ivory, and ivory back mir
rors or European manufacture almost invariably
crack across the back after few months of use
upon this side of the Atlantic. The American
manufacturers have hit upon the expedient of
leaving space between glass and frame in
order to allow for contraction and expansion
Nearly all the ivory brought to the United
Stttes Is bought in the great London market,
where the price is knocked about by bulls and
bears, who corner ivory thew corner wheat
or corn. The African. rather than the Asatic
ivory, is brought TO this country though one of
the largest tn ks ever seen in this market that
of a sacred East Indian elephant, has Just been
mounted in oriental style trophy of the
chase. The tusk measures more than
SIX feet in length and retains the
marks 1t bore when worn by the sacred beast
to which it belonged. Thanks to the predatory
apd murderous industry OF Tippu lib and his
black Zapzibaris the supply of ivory has kept
pace with the increased demand resulting from
its extended use in this country, and the price
for the raw material has not permanently Rd-
vanced. Few tusks of more than five feet in
length come to this country and many are less
than four feet long. Many OF the tusks reach
here after having been buried in Africa for
years to save them from thievish enemies of the
savage owners. Every tusk must go through a
process Of seasoning. long or short, according
as tn" process is natural artificial. before it
is made up into articles OF ornament or USE 1t
is difficult to obtain perfect slab of ivory more
than six inches in diameter, as the upper end
of the tusk, which is the thickest is hollow. and
the material is coarser than that in the solid
part Of the tusk From the latter are made
billiard balls and the most beautifully carved
articles for the toilet and the writing desk.
From the coarser parts are made poker chips,
buttons and hundred small articles. Every
part Of the tusk is put to USE Even the chips
and sawdust are converted into ivory black by
burning.