US Ban in Ivory - Not all bad news

A. G. Maisey · 11th April 2014, 06:15 AM

There is one thing that history demonstrates to be unarguably true:-

when anything is banned by law or authority it becomes desirable and the price rises accordingly

Possibly the most prominent example of the truth of this dictum is alcohol prohibition in the USA of 80 or so years ago, but numerous other examples can be found without too much effort.

In respect of ivory, in Indonesia during the 1970's and some of the 1980's ivory keris hilts were not inevitably more expensive than wooden keris hilts. The factors that did inevitably increase price were quality of workmanship and rarity of form. This meant that wooden keris hilts of excellent quality or rare form were always more expensive than common or run-of-the-mill ivory hilts.

Since the bans on trade in ivory have come into force the value of ivory keris hilts has risen to what many would regard as an unreasonable level, but the fact remains that hilts are highly sought after at these seemingly unreasonable prices.

If this proposed legislation against sale/exchange/possession of ivory does come into force in the USA it will have one very predictable effect:-

the value of ivory on the black market will rise to highly unreasonable levels

Collectors will still collect it, people wanting to sell will still sell it, but because of the attendant risk, prices will rise.

As for the unfortunate business of the possible illegal possession of ethnographic and/or historic artifacts, the same will apply.

If any serious moves were to be made in this particular area, the place to start is with public collections, and on a world basis, perhaps the Elgin Marbles might be the lynch pin that needs to removed in order to give legitimacy to this philosophy of "return to source".

11th April 2014, 06:15 AM	#28
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,991	There is one thing that history demonstrates to be unarguably true:- when anything is banned by law or authority it becomes desirable and the price rises accordingly Possibly the most prominent example of the truth of this dictum is alcohol prohibition in the USA of 80 or so years ago, but numerous other examples can be found without too much effort. In respect of ivory, in Indonesia during the 1970's and some of the 1980's ivory keris hilts were not inevitably more expensive than wooden keris hilts. The factors that did inevitably increase price were quality of workmanship and rarity of form. This meant that wooden keris hilts of excellent quality or rare form were always more expensive than common or run-of-the-mill ivory hilts. Since the bans on trade in ivory have come into force the value of ivory keris hilts has risen to what many would regard as an unreasonable level, but the fact remains that hilts are highly sought after at these seemingly unreasonable prices. If this proposed legislation against sale/exchange/possession of ivory does come into force in the USA it will have one very predictable effect:- the value of ivory on the black market will rise to highly unreasonable levels Collectors will still collect it, people wanting to sell will still sell it, but because of the attendant risk, prices will rise. As for the unfortunate business of the possible illegal possession of ethnographic and/or historic artifacts, the same will apply. If any serious moves were to be made in this particular area, the place to start is with public collections, and on a world basis, perhaps the Elgin Marbles might be the lynch pin that needs to removed in order to give legitimacy to this philosophy of "return to source".