Its more practical uses include being used for billiard balls, buttons, and a veneers on the top of piano keys. In the last 200 years in Europe ivory has been used to carve figures, for elaborate tankards, snuff boxes, cane handles, embroidery and sewing accessories, in jewellery and as inlay on furniture.
In Asia ivory has been carved for netsuke, seals, okimono, card cases, fan supports, animals and other figures and even as carved tusks. Ivory has been used since the earliest times as a material for sculpture of small items, both in Europe and the east, principally China and Japan. Although the mammoth is extinct, tusks are still being unearthed in Russia and offered for sale. The ivory from the African elephant is the most prized source of ivory. This item has been sold, and the description, image and price are for reference purposes only.
