Ivory is the hard, dense dentine that forms the tusks of elephants and certain other large mammals, and by extension the analogous material recovered from the teeth and tusks of walrus, hippopotamus, narwhal, sperm whale and the extinct mammoth. Worked since the Palaeolithic, ivory was for most of recorded history one of the four pillars of organic jewellery and decorative work alongside pearl, coral and amber. Its modern position is profoundly different: legitimate trade is narrow, defined by species, age and source-country regulation, and the careless handling of ivory in the contemporary trade is a serious legal and reputational hazard.

Material classes

The principal ivories of the trade are distinguished by source species and structure. African elephant ivory (Loxodonta africana) is the densest and most worked variety, with the diagnostic Schreger lines (cross-hatching of the dentinal tubule pattern) intersecting at obtuse angles greater than 115 degrees in transverse section. Asian elephant ivory (Elephas maximus) shows Schreger angles below 90 degrees and is generally smaller in tusk dimensions. Mammoth ivory (Mammuthus primigenius) recovered from Pleistocene permafrost in Siberia and Yukon shows Schreger angles below 90 degrees and is distinguished from elephant by frequent staining (blue-green from vivianite, red-brown from iron oxides) and by radiocarbon age. Walrus ivory (Odobenus rosmarus) is recognised by a distinct two-layer structure with a granular secondary dentine core. Hippopotamus ivory from the canines is denser and whiter than elephant and was historically preferred for piano keys and dentures because of its slower yellowing.

Identification

The Schreger pattern, visible under ten-power magnification on a polished cross-section, is the single most diagnostic feature for separating elephant from mammoth ivory and is recognised by CITES and CITES management authorities as the standard non-destructive test. Specific gravity ranges from about 1.70 to 1.95 depending on species and condition. Long-wave ultraviolet fluorescence is typically a chalky white to violet-white, while modern plastic substitutes such as celluloid, casein and polyester resin show different and usually duller responses. Carbon-14 dating distinguishes mammoth (Pleistocene) from elephant (Holocene) ivory and is used by enforcement laboratories in contested cases.

Regulation

International trade in elephant ivory has been governed by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) since 1975, with African elephants moved to Appendix I in 1989 and Asian elephants on Appendix I from inception. Two CITES-sanctioned one-off sales of stockpiled ivory took place in 1999 and 2008; no further sales have been authorised since. Most consumer markets have since closed: the United States enacted a near-total federal ban in 2016 (50 CFR 17, the African Elephant Rule), the European Union tightened intra-EU commercial movement in 2022, mainland China closed its domestic market in 2017 and the United Kingdom's Ivory Act 2018 restricts trade in elephant and several other ivories with limited antique and artistic exemptions. Mammoth ivory, as a product of an extinct species, is not covered by CITES but is increasingly drawn into national restrictions because of look-alike enforcement concerns; New York, California, Hawaii and others now restrict mammoth alongside elephant.

Trade implications for fine jewellery

For a working jeweller in Canada or the United States in 2026, the practical position is straightforward. Pre-Convention elephant ivory may be lawfully traded only with documented provenance establishing acquisition before 1975 (or, for federal US transactions, before 1976), and even then interstate sale is limited to qualifying antiques over 100 years old with less than 200 grams of ivory. Walrus and other marine-mammal ivory is governed in the US by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, with very narrow exemptions. Mammoth ivory is currently trade-legal at the federal level in the US and Canada but is restricted in several state and municipal markets and is increasingly questioned at retail. The reputational risk of handling any ivory without iron-clad documentation now outweighs the commercial value for almost any contemporary jewellery business.

Historical and stylistic notes

Ivory carving traditions of note include Byzantine and medieval European liturgical work, Indian Mughal hilts and box-work, Chinese Qing dynasty figurative carving and Beninese and Yoruba palace work in West Africa. Western jewellery use of ivory peaked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the Art Deco taste for ivory-and-onyx and ivory-and-jade contrasts in the work of Boucheron, Cartier and Lacloche. The post-1989 collapse in legitimate trade has stripped most of this material from the active jewellery market and pushed it into fine-art, ethnographic and museum spheres. The modern bench substitutes for ivory in restoration work include tagua nut (vegetable ivory), high-density bone, mineralised mammoth and a number of polymer composites.