Browns Auction Planes

[Lewill2]

The Browns Tool Auction this weekend had the usual major load of Stanley planes and many other different planes. The big topic of discussion was the new proposed ivory laws and how they will affect the antique tool market. I have several original plow planes with ivory tips and I also have a few newer reproduction plow planes with ivory parts.

There were a fair number of ivory rules and ivory tipped plow planes that brought what I thought were low prices. I don't know if it is the economy or the ivory ban that affected the prices. The big seller of the auction was a solid ivory wedge arm plow plane. The usual metal parts were either plated or silver except the blade and skate which were steel. Everything that would normally be wood was ivory. There was a lot of talk about what it would sell for. The pre-auction estimate was $20,000-$40,000, it hammered for $37,000 plus a 10%-13% buyers premium + 6% sales tax if you weren't tax exempt. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of that one. No it didn't come home with me.

[Jim C.]

Hey Les,

I don't have any ivory accessorized/trimmed tools, but I'm interested in knowing how the proposed laws will impact the ownership and/or sale of such tools.

Jim C.   

[Billman49]

This problem goes far beyond tools - a friend makes concertinas, he also repairs and rebuilds antique ones, often sent over by players in the USA - in the past these often had ivory, and sometimes bone, buttons... Instruments sent from the USA to the UK have to be returned after repair... He is already encountering problems with this, and also with 'exotic' hardwoods such as rosewood and ebony  - for new instruments he doesn't use FSC timbers as 99% of his materials are already second or third hand (he often uses old furniture or timber he has had in store for over 40 years) and the remaining 1% is UK grown hardwoods bought from a local sawmill...

Even if he uses man made 'artificial' ivory he has problems, as to an untrained eye this is indistinguishable from the real stuff (and bone is equally problematical) - self certification is not acceptable, he will have to buy in the services of an 'expert' to authenticate the type of material...

I have heard stories (probably apocryphal) of wooden planes with ivory tips having the ends cut off by over zealous customs officials.. However, I am reliably informed that in the US only a limited number of customs depots have the authority to deal with this type of import/export

The same problem will occur with antique pianos, which have ivory keys... as well as a host of other items made in the 18th to 20th centuries..

The Mangbetu trombash from the Congo frequently have carved ivory handles...

[Lewill2]

From what I can gather anything from A - Z if it has ivory pieces, parts or whole it will be illegal to sell or transfer across USA and other abiding countries borders. If you Google Ivory Laws you can read a lot about it.

My understanding is you can own it but can't sell it so it becomes zero in value due to not being able to sell.

I have read stories of musical instruments being held at USA borders until proper documentation is provided. These were instruments owned by musicians traveling across USA borders to attend events where they played the instruments and where taking them back home. The one article I read was bag pipes from a group in Canada that played in the USA and they couldn't get them back into Canada because the USA officials held them. They were later released to the owners.