The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-02-15
IVORY AND IT'S USES.
WHY CARVED ORNAMENTS IN IVORY
ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.

yu.k, Has Not Greatly SiaahGt'' III sAe-
cen, Ycar.-.t Costly Luxury.
When Wlriteiaw Reid was i'll search OF
y workman 10 decorate apartments nj
Ophir Farm with rich and beautiful an
tioues brought over from Earope ne
found that there was but on man III
America who could do such work, ana
he law sick. Had Mr.. Reid been i'll searc.i
of skilled IVORY carvers he would have
found them almost as scarce. There are
not above three or four ivory carvers OF
approvel skill in New York. and hardl.
SO many in Ill the rest Of the country.
The men who do such work are pala
high wages the wear round whether
busy ar idle. They are Frenchmen. Ger
mans and Italians. OF the three The
Italians are perhaps In" most sklllt"i.
since ivory carving has been an art IN Il
high degree Of perfection among the
Italians for centuries. The most famous
ivory carver living. however. i II French
man. Noreau Nauilier. Few OF his
masterpieces have been seen in America.
though two were sold at the famous
Morgan art sale Of Il few years age. and
two more, held ut !. -rea, price. are now
in die possession of Il noted American
jeweier.
The ivory carvccS of tbs country uo
little 81. nothing il III" East Indian or
Janaacsc manner nor 10 they occni.t'
thr,;,rl. IS with figure work. Their chief
eu,,!@~nIen. Is III producing decorative
.o;l.t and stationery articles. The r. ;"
for stained an9 carved ivory is OF receh.
- -, =. 49, I-,.j Nt..-nz and ft,a de-
maid TOR aach articles is not large. a.
:l.ry a,- more costly i.iah the same
articles in silver woHld io. They We're
produced to tickle tn" lat."d %sthoflc
,~alates of the rich arn: luxurious. ana
!. only those who may triiie away what
they will indulge themselves to ANY
considerable degree in carved ivory.
In all such articles the cost of the raw
material is a;Na.! i'll comparison With
that of the labor. Billiard balls are
costly because they contain large guam
titles of the fines, ivory eat from the
best part Of the tnsi.. The labor cost OF
. billiard balls is tr;aing. rs they are
turned by machinery and rapidly. Thns
: it often happens that Il single small arti-
Gle, richly stained and carved. will cost
i've times rs much as Il billiard ball con
tanning ten times the weight of ivory.
The caryers of IVORY us, much the same
tools as the wood carver~. hit of lighter
and more delicat" make. It work Is
f extremely tedious and la!orions.
The carving is usually done i'll low re-
lief. and the subjects are such as ar
suitable to this northumberland de-
signs in delicate curves, thn cactus. win
some varieties of palm. and hints calght
frolu those marvelorsly simple but ar
.istic carvings of the Alaskan Indians.
Tie ivory is stained slightly, so as t.
$ bring out the design. and is permitted to
absorb moisture. which it readily does.
in order to give it that fresh look com
n mon in newly manufactured articles OF
J. ivory. The art of staining ivory Is q
secret guarded we'll by the carvers.
Some notion of the cost of ivory cary
inv NAV be had from the fact that. will'
, Il hand mirror framed III plain ivory may
II he hid for ten or twelve dollars. IL mir
ror in carved ivory may cost 800 %
b. more. The small articles i'll carve,
y ivory cost from five 20 twenty-five dol
lars. and il toile. set in that i%naterii.
K may fetch rs high as 800. Tie Alnerl
rs can climate. with its extremes Of hea
4. an. cold. is very trying upon IVORY. am
-, IVORY backed mirrors of European manu-
factrlrc almost invariably crack acros
a. the back after IA few month, OF ,i>e upol
this side of the Atlantic. The America
manufacturers have hit upon the eNpe
a dent Of leaving a space between Slas
y and frame in order to allow for contrae
'" ton and expansion.
Nearly all the ivory brought TO tn
United States is bought in the great Lon
isl don market, where the price is knocke
CT about by bulls and bears. who come
III ivory as they corner wheat or corn. Til
African rather than the Asiatic ivory
brought tn this country. though II 4
In the largest tusks ever seen in this ma
at ket-that of "A sacred East Indian el'
ed phant-has Just bee,I mounted III oriel
tai style AS a trophy OF the chase. III
ID. tusk measures more than six feet l
,as length and retains the marks it bore whe
81. worn by the sacred beast to which it b.
.rs longed. Thanks to the predatory an
ve murierous industry of Tippu lib an
II. his black Zanziharis the supply of ivor
"a has kept pace with the increased deinan
no resulting from its extended use in tn
rs country. anil. the price for the raw II
terial has not permanently advanced.
Few tusks of more than five feet
length come to this country. and mar
be- are less than four feet loIg,. Many
the russs reach here after having bee
,v, buried in Africa for years to save the
from thievish enemies of the sava:
owners. Every tusk must go through
process of seasoning, long OIL short, a
cording as the process is natural or art
n a fetal before il is made ND into articl
a or ornament or NE. II is difficult TO o
tain IA perfect slab of ivory more thu
lue six inches in diameter, as the upper el
Ugh of the tusk. which is the thickest. is h
low and the material is coarser than tn
,wl in the solid part of the tusk.
oil. From the latter are made billiard ba