Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-02-28
IVORY AND ITS USES
Why CARVED ORNAMENTS IN IVORY
ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.

WHY CAHVc1 ONNAmeNIo w tSoNv
ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.
irAsrs Are rev xxpsrt wsrksrs N liver,
iaTAis oeunsry-rAs Priss Of x,spAa.ts'
rushs Hss Net Greatly Changed N n
ssat Ysarss-A Costly Lsxury.
When whitelaw Reid was In search Of
workman to decorate apartments Of
.Ophir Farm with rich and besutfui IN.
Itiques brought over from Europe he
found that there was but one man In
America who could do such work. and
ne lay sick. Had Mr.. Reid been In search
Of skilled ivory carves he would have
found them almost a. scarce. There ART
not above three or four ivory carven OF
approved skill In New York, and hardly
20 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 ItalianA OF the three the
Italians are perhaps the most skillful,
since ivory carving has been an art In q
high degree of perfection among the
Italians for centuries. The most famous
ivory carver living. however, Is Q Frene !.
man, MORGAN vauthier. Few OF his
masterpieces have been seen In America,
though two were sold ut the famous
Morgan art sale Of few years ago, and
two more, held at Q great price, are now
In the possession Of Q 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
employment Is In producing decorative
toilet and stationery articles. Tho rage
for stained and carved ivory Is Of recent
growth In the United States, and the de-
mand for such articles Is not large, rs
they are more costly than the same
articles In silver would be. They were
produced to tickle the jaded aesthetic
palates Of the rich and luxurious, and
only those who may trifie away what
they will indulge themselves to any
considerable degree In carved ivory.
In oil such articles the cost OF the raw
material Ia small In comparison with
that Of the labor. Billiard balls are
costly because they contain l.rgc quan.
titles Of the finest ivory cut from the
best part Of the tusk. Tiic labor cost Of
billiard balls ~ t-iCins, ~ they arc
turned by machinery Il. rapidly. Thus
It often happens that single small Grti-
Gle, richly stained and carved, will cost
Ave times as much as u billiard ball con-
tanning ten times the weight Of ivory.
The carvers Of ivory use much the sanc
tools az tho wood carvers, but OF lighter
and more delicate make. Tie work Is
extremely tedious and laborious.
The carving Is usually done In low re-
lief. and the subjects are such rs are
suitable to this Observation-Disclosures de-
signs In delicate curves, the cactus, with
some varieties Of I'm, and hints caught
from those ma, Ielously simple but ar
tistic carvings Of the Alaskan Indians.
The ivory Is stained slightly. 30 as to
bring ont the design, and Is permitted to
absorb moisture, which It readily does,
In order to give II that fresh look com.
mon in newly manufactured articles OF
ivory. The art Of staining ivory Is a
secret guarded well by the carvers.
Some notion Of the cost Of ivory carv-
ing may be had from the fact that, while
hand mirror framed In plain ivory may
be had for ten or twelve dollars, mir
ror In carved ivory may cost 500 or
more. The small articles In carved
ivory cost from Ave 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 across
the back after few months Of use upon
this side of the Atlantic. The American
manufacturers have hit upon the expe-
dent Of leaving space between glass
and frame In order to allow for contrac.
ton and expansion.
Nearly all the ivory brought to the
United States Is bought in tho great Lon
don 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 mar
ket-that Of q sacred East Indian ele-
phant-has Just been mounted In orien-
tai style US a trophy 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 1t be-
longed. Thanks to the predatory and
murderous industry Of Tippu lib and
his 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 ma
terial has not permanently advanced.
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
process Of seasoning. long or short, &C
cording as the process Is natural or arti.
fcial. before 1t is made mp into articles
Of ornament or use. II Is difficult to OBJ
tain q perfect slab Of ivory more than
six inches In diameter, as the upper end
Of the tusk, which Is the thickest, Is hol-
low and the material Is coarser than that
In the solid part Of the tusk.
From the latter IRE 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 u hundred small ar
ticles. Every part Of the tusk Is put to