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Ivory sales and us... New ban is looking like it's going to be in effect

last week they pulverized a lot of confiscated ivory/tusks in France I think .. was all over the news here. Sending a message that it will not be tolerated at all.

That is the part of this that never makes sense to me. Confiscate the ivory? Heck yes and jail the poachers! Then roll the ivory into the legal trade and use the millions of dollars to pay game wardens, preserve habitat, feed the dirt poor hungry villages that breed poachers! I see zero advantage to wasting millions of dollars.
 
Yeah .. the end result just comes the opposite from how I see it. They drive the price up with destroying the goods .. and open the appetite for illegal trading even more because of the increased demand.
 
I heard that is true too.
Here in Belgium they don't care - I've received 3 seven day sets in ivory (still 2 1/2 in my possession).
To be on the safe side please send all your ivory clad shaving equipment to me. PM me for my address :)

Yeah you guys have more contentious issues on your mind.
Don't forger to spread the love to the Irish side of things. ;-)
 
I have to admit I thought you guys were all over-reacting when this thread started. After all, what were they going to do, go after all those Steinway concert pianos out there?

I stand corrected. It looks like a version of that scenario could be exactly what's on the horizon. From today's NYT:

The rules do not ban private ownership, but they outlaw interstate sales of ivory items, unless they meet what sellers describe as impossible criteria.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/a...-on-ivory-sales-set-off-wide-concerns.html?hp


 
Read the article. Thank you. My opinion; their regulations will have exactly the opposite effect. Ivory will become just like moonshine liquor. Increased black market sales without regulation and increased demand for poachers to go about killing without any regard for the animals. There is an actual solution staring them in the face, but they refuse to accept proven fact.
 
Interesting, I just picked up a 7 day set locally. It will be interesting to see what happens with the values of these things and if they are even marketable anymore! Oh well, maybe i now just own a lifetime supply of straights!
 
It's definitly a unique material in many regards but at this point its not worth the bother.

Seriously - last thing I need is some Govt agent banging on my door and confiscating my razors.
 
how about phenolic resin? It works for pool/billiard balls .. anyone had experience with that as a scales material
 
My problem is that this is even a remote possibility here in the land of the free!

It's definitly a unique material in many regards but at this point its not worth the bother.

Seriously - last thing I need is some Govt agent banging on my door and confiscating my razors.
 
how about phenolic resin? It works for pool/billiard balls .. anyone had experience with that as a scales material
I have not had any experience with it to my knowledge but I have been sent some acrylic combined with different pigments and pearls that was amazing once buffed to shine and would probably be next choice after ivory and horn.
 
So the mad rush to get these ivory items and pay through the nose for them and hopefully you like em enough to keep forever. Im looking at both sides of this and I think I understand both. This may drive the price more though and encourage more poaching. I hope it doesn't though. Im sure we will see though.
 
This may drive the price more though and encourage more poaching. I hope it doesn't though.

I hope I wake up super rich and dashingly good looking tomorrow. But I'm not holding my breath.

There's pretty reasonable evidence that creating an illegitimate market creates exorbitant profits in the underground trade.

No, I don't have a solution.
 
I do! There is currently according to the NYT a half a million wild elephants out there all in desperate need of protection! When I was a child (40 or so years ago) we had exactly the same problem with the wild turkey. Poachers taking them any time they got the chance and populations continuing to dwindle. Tightly controlled hunting that turned the fees and licensing into protection for habitat and game wardens made turkey populations BOOM! This was not a one time accident. It has been done for deer, turkey, pheasants, mule deer, big horn sheep, Mountain lion, etc etc! The same format has been used to successfully manage game fish as well. It is proven; it is effective, and it is repeatable. Game management not bans is the path to a long future for the elephant. Many places in Africa must cull herds of elephant to ensure they don't starve to death. Imagine for a moment if every ounce of that ivory was sold and the money turned into habitat and protection from poachers. The value of the legal ivory would would protect the animals instead of harming them. A retailer of ivory would owe his living to legal trade making him less likely to business with a poacher. Pharmacy companies don't do business with illegal drug dealers because their business license depends on it. The same would become true for those dealing in ivory.

I hope I wake up super rich and dashingly good looking tomorrow. But I'm not holding my breath.

There's pretty reasonable evidence that creating an illegitimate market creates exorbitant profits in the underground trade.

No, I don't have a solution.
 
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