The morning call., 1893-01-22
ELEPHANTS IVORY.
How This Costly Material Is Carved
Into Manifold Shapes.

New YORK sun
When Whltelaw Reid was in search Of
workman to decorate apartments at Ophir
Farm with rich and beautiful antiques
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
csIyers lie would have found them almost
as scarce. There are not above three or
four ivory-carYers of approved skill in New
York, and hardly so 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. OF the three the Italians are
perhaps the most skillful. since ivory carving
has been an art in high degree of perfec-
tion among the Italians for centuries. The
most famous ivory-carver living, however,
Is a Frenchman, Moreau Vauthier. Few of
his masterpieces have been seen IN Amer
lea. though two were 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 jeweleT.
The ivOry-csryers of this country 90 little
or nothing in the East Indian or Japanese
manner. nor do they occupy themselves
with figure work. Their chief employment
is in producing decorative toilet and sta
tionery articles. The rage for stained and
carved ivory Is of recent growth IN the
United States, and the demand for such
articles is n OF large. as they are more costly
than the same articles In silver would be.
They were produced TO tickle the jaded
esthetic palates of the rich and luxurious,
and only those who may trifie away what
they will. indulge themselves to any con-
siderable degree in carved ivory.
In all such articles the cost of the raw
material is small in comparison with that of
the labor Biliiard-balls are costly because
they contain large quantities OF the finest
ivory cut from the best part of the tusk.
The labor cost of billiard balls is triflng, as
they are turned by machinery and rapidly.
Thus it often happens that a single small
article, richly stained and carved. will cost
five times as much as blllard-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 laborcus. The carving is usu-
ally done in low relief, and the subjects
are such as are suitable to this treatment
Persian designs In delicate curves, the cac-
tus with some varieties of palm, and hints
caught from those marvelously simple but
artistic carvings Of the Alaskan Indians.
The ivory Is stained slightly SO as to bring
out the design, and Is permitted to absorb
moisture, which 1t readily does. in order to
give it that fresh look common in newly
manufactured articles of ivory. The art of
staining ivory is secret guarded well Dy
the carvers.
Some notion Of the cost OF ivory carving
may be had from the fact that while a hand
mirror framed in plain ivory may cost SO
or So, mirror in carved ivory may cost
500 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 Anne rican climate, with its extremes of
heat and cold, is very trying upon ivory.
and ivory-backed mirrors of 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 eXpan-
sion,