Re:The Mammoth Pirates
by adamnemecek on Tuesday June 20, 2017 @10:46AM
(#14595027)
Are you an expert on this?
Re:The Mammoth Pirates
by Turing_Machine on Tuesday June 20, 2017 @09:35PM
(#14599984)
No, I'm not an expert, but I've seen plenty of artifacts that are made from both fossil ivory and modern ivory. They simply don't look alike, not even to a casual glance.
How many exampes of both have you seen, in person?
I won't dispute that fossil ivory could possibly be bleached to look like modern ivory (which would have no effect on the elephants or arguably a positive effect, since it would be eating some of the market for the modern stuff), or that modern ivory could be stained to look like fossil ivory (which would devalue it).
I just don't see any economic incentive to do either one.
No, in general, you don't need a lab to tell them apart when they're in the raw state. Fossil ivory is pretty distinctive in appearance.
You could maybe stain modern ivory to make it look like fossil ivory, but that would make it considerably less valuable.
And yeah, you could label the containers of modern ivory as fossil ivory, but you could also label them as medical supplies, soybeans, or wingnuts. It isn't going to fool anyone who actually opens the container.