The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-03-04
ELEPHANTS IVORY AND ITS
USES.
fiOw This Costly Materials Car

we'd Into Manifold Shapes.
When Mr.. Whitelaw Reid was IN
| search of a workman to decorate apart
ments at Ophir Farm with rich q ii
| beautiful antiques brought over from
Europe be found that there was but one
man in America who could do such
work. and he lay sick. Had Mr.. Re ii
been in search Of skilled ivory carvers r.
Ould lave found them almost as scare .
There are not above three or four iyor.
carvers OF approved skill in New Yorg
al hardly SO many in all tho rest of til
country. The men who do such worl;
ale paid high wages the year around
whether busy Cridle. These are French
men, Germans and Italians. of the
three the Italians are perhaps the most
skllful. since ivory carving has been an
art in high degree OF perfection among
the Italians for centuries. The most
famous ivory carver living, however, is a
Frerchmen, Moreau Vauthier. Few OF
his masterpieces have been seen III
America, though two were sold at the
famous Morgan art sale a frw years
ago, and two more, held at great price
arc now in the possession of a noted
American jeweller.
The ivory carvers of this country do
little or nothing in the East Indian or
Japanese manner, nor do the occupy
themselves with figure work. Their
chief employ ment is in producing decor
ative toilet and stationery articles. The
rage for stained and carved ivory is Of
recent growth in the United States, and
til" demand for such articles is not large
as they ARE more costly than tho same
articles in silver would be. They were
prcdnced 10 tickle the faded aesthetic
palates OF the rich aud luxurious, and
only those who may trife away what
they will, 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 are costly
because they contain large quantities OF
the finest ivory cut from the best part of
| Tie tusk. The labor cost OF billiard
tails is tlifiing as they are turned by
| happens that a single small article,
richly stained and carved, will cost five
times IS much as a billiard ball contain
i'g 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 lahorious. The
carving is usually done in low relief and
| be subjects are such as are suitable to
his treaJment-Persian designs III
delicate curves the cactus with some
varieties OF palm and hints caught from
those marvellously simple but artistic
| carving of the Alaskan Indians The
ivory is stained slightly SO as to bring
cut the design, and is permitted to
| absorb moisture, which it ready does,
| in order to give it that fresh look
common in newly manufactured articles
| of ivory. The art of staining ivory is
a secret guarded we'll by the carvers.
Some notion o! the cost of ivory cary
ng may be had from the fact that while
hand mirror framed in plain ivory
may be had for SO or $12, mirror in
carved ivory may cost 800 or more.
The small articles in carved ivory cost
from S. to S25 and toilet set in that
material may fetch as high as $500.
The American climate, with its extremes
ef heat and cold is very trying upon
ivory, and ivory backed mirrors of
European manufacture almost invariably
crack across the back after few month";
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 States is bought in the great
London market, where the price is
knocked about by bulls and bears, who
corner ivory as they corner wheat or
corn. The African, rather than the
Asiatic, ivory is brought to this country
though one of the largest tusks ever seen
| in this market, that of sacred East
Indian elephant has just been mounted
in Oriental style as atrophy of the chase.
The tusk measures more than six feet
in length and retains the marks it bore
when worn by the sacred beast to which
it belonged. Thanks to the predatory
and murderous industry of Tippu lib
and bis black Zanzibaris, 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 advanced.
Few tpsks 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
thievlsh enemies of the savage owners.
Every tusk must 60 through process
of seasoning long or short, according
as the process is natural or artificial be-
fore it is made up into articles of
ornament or use. 1t is difficult to obtain
a 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 b:lls and the
most beautifully carved articles of the
toilet and the writing desk. From the
coarser parts are made poker chips,
buttons and a hundred small articles.
Every part of the tusk is put to use
Even the chips and saw.dust are con.
verified into ivory black by burning.
Women Renew Their Youth.
1t is an extraordinary but incontestable
fact that some women at the age when
most people die undergo a sort of natural
process of rejuvenation-th hair and
teeth grow again the wrinkles disappear
from the skin and sight and hearing
reacquire their former sharpness. A
Marquise de Marabeau is an example of
this rare and remarkable phenomenon.
She died at the age of eighty six, but
a few years before he death she became
in appearance quite young again. The
same chance happened to nun of the