Ivory
Easily carved, ivory is hard, creamy-white  
in color and used for centuries to make
novelty items usually in miniature.

Chinese were the first to to make ivory
carvings around c1500_^bce.

Japan had not begun the practice until
the 17th century, but very soon became
very well known for their Netsuke carvings.

The West ivory was inlayed in furniture from
from the 17th century, then at a later time
carving were of chess pieces, card cases
and figures.

Elephant tusks were usually used, however
wild boar, ram, walrus, sperm whale. and
narwhale were also used.

Ivory must conform legally with the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES). 

Per CITES...all ivory taken from the wild and
signifacantly altered to make a piece of jewelry
art, tool, or musical instrument before June 1,1947 is an antique. Any piece made after
this date 6/1/47 is considered illigal. Any piece of ivory sold in its natural state is also
considered illigal.
                                                                                                                                                                                                   Bone urns
                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                       
        Bone
 Prisoners-of-war during the Revolutionary, and Napoleonic Wars against France (1793-1815) were kept in floating prisons, so to
pass the time, and earn money, some of
the prisoners made bone carvings.  
Bone was used to make ships. Working
models of spining jenny, and the guillotine
were popular as well.From the horns of rams, snuff mulls (Scottish for snuff box)
were decorated with silver mounts and
usually no marking are present.These mulls
could often times be very  decorative.