99 44/100% Pure Smuggling

Do people still want to buy ivory art? A while back, we covered an arrest for scrimshaw-related smuggling. Now, I see that a Philadelphia shop owner has been arrested for smuggling elephant ivory. The investigation resulted in about a ton of ivory being seized by authorities. Here is the press release. I understand that people all have different tastes in art and artifacts. And, I can kind of see the attraction of antique ivory pieces as a specimen of craft work from a time when the mores surrounding the killing of elephants was different. But I am surprised there remains a market for this in the West and particularly in the U.S.

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