Have you always thought about perhaps collecting antique ivory from Asia? Beginning an Asian Ivory Antique collection is a great idea especially as a way of not only accumulating rare objects of beauty, but also as a way of protecting yourself from the recession. Being quite rare, ivory continues to increase in value. The fact that it is now illegal to use ivory from elephant’s tusks has as a result substantially increased the price for Asian ivory antiques.

Antique collecting will most likely expose you to the variety of antiques you can actually collect. This includes a variety of Buddha statues including a Bronze Buddha, Copper Buddha, Jade Buddha, Wooden Buddha, Antique Buddha, Oxidized Buddha and Golden Buddha varieties.

When buying Asian ivory antiques it is much more advisable to purchase from an antique dealer that is reputable. Buying from unknown sources might put you at risk for mistakenly purchasing something that is not made out of real ivory. When purchasing a asian ivory antique, make sure that you purchase ivory that is pre-1947 so that you are ensuring that your purchase is not going against any of the modern regulations.

Check to see whether or not you are purchasing something that is made from one piece of ivory, the tip of an elephant’s horn which is more valuable than ivory that has been glued together and created from different pieces. Ivory that has been carved over a hundred years ago are considered true antiques.

Ivory antiques statues are statues that are carved from ivory. More specifically, these are statues made out of the elephant’s tusks with sharp tools for cutting, manually or mechanically. This old fashioned craft has currently ceased since it has now become illegal by the CITES organization in most countries around the world.

Prehistorically, human beings have carved ivory and much of prehistoric statues reveal what ancient humans used as tools. The Khufu ivory figure, for example, is thought to be a masterpiece. Statues made of ivory have been found in ancient Chinese rulers’ tombs and since the late era of Rome, ivory has been a prestigious Christian statue medium.

Not just taken from the tusks of elephants, ivory is also taken from any animal tusk or tooth and many teeth from a variety of species have been utilized. Eurasian statues that are made of ivory are from the elephants of India. Statues from the time of Rome are from elephants in the Northern Africa District. In North Europe in early medieval times, there was a trade of walrus ivory from as far as Scandinavia to Norse Greenland, Germany, Northern France and South England.

Mammoth tusks were used in Arctic North America and Siberia. Tusks from mammoths could be recovered and used from permafrost and this was a big enterprise in the nineteenth century. The earliest human face likeness called the Venus of Brassempouy, which was twenty-five thousand years old, was carved from ivory taken from a mammoth. Teeth from a sperm whale are also used and so is bone carving which was used in cultures that did not have access to ivory and was a much cheaper alternative.