hilt for comment

David · 27th November 2013, 05:07 PM

Yep, that looks like sperm whale teeth to me.
No need to tell us any more about the traditional whale hunting in Flores. There is plenty of info about this on the web and the hunt has become something of a tourist attraction with week long tours scheduled around it so you will find a lot of hits on a google search for this.
Of course most of the world has a moratorium on the hunting of sperm whales and they are on the endangered spices list here in the USA. Sale of this material collected after CITES (1973) is considered illegal in most parts of the world AFAIK. While it is obviously a better looking material for working into hilts than moose antler i would image that there are great difficulties and dangers in selling these hilts to an international market.

27th November 2013, 05:07 PM	#7
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,211	Yep, that looks like sperm whale teeth to me. No need to tell us any more about the traditional whale hunting in Flores. There is plenty of info about this on the web and the hunt has become something of a tourist attraction with week long tours scheduled around it so you will find a lot of hits on a google search for this. Of course most of the world has a moratorium on the hunting of sperm whales and they are on the endangered spices list here in the USA. Sale of this material collected after CITES (1973) is considered illegal in most parts of the world AFAIK. While it is obviously a better looking material for working into hilts than moose antler i would image that there are great difficulties and dangers in selling these hilts to an international market.