The Fashion Statement: Woolly Mammoth Ivory is Huge

by Kristin Young (RSS feed)
Aug 19th 2010 at 9:00AM

Woolly mammoth ivory jewelry is everywhere.

Luxury retailer Stanley Korshak in Dallas can't keep it in stock. Michelle Obama has been photographed numerous times wearing it. For CFDA design darling Monique Péan and Ivory Jacks in Bothel, Washington, that create jewelry out of the material, business has been good.

The First Lady wore woolly mammoth jewelry by Monique Péan on a trip to Mexico a few months ago (pictured above and below)-specifically earrings, cuffs and strands. She wore the cuffs again recently to greet President Obama on his 49th birthday. The cuffs go for $4,480 to $7,420 at www.twistonline.com. The earrings can fetch anywhere between $915 and $2,970 at www.barneys.com.

Unlike elephant ivory which is primarily off-white, woolly mammoth ivory is unique in that it has many different colors-tan, brown and sometimes blue. Ivory Jacks jewelry designer Courtney Tripp explained to me this week at the Gift Show in New York that the colors are a result of thousands of years of mineralization. No two tusks are the same color. So no two mammoth jewelry pieces can be exactly the same.

The ban on ivory-implemented since the '80s to stop poachers from killing the elephants simply for their tusks-does not apply to this fossilized stuff. Trade in dead mammoth ivory is legal and has been for 300 years because it does not threaten any living species. This ivory is found in mammoth tusks that have been preserved in ice and permafrost of Arctic regions in Siberia, North Canada or Alaska. As the ice packs and glaciers have receded, more and more tusks have been found. Tusks have been unearthed in road construction or spotted from a plane in melting river banks.

Most jewelers claim that woolly mammoth jewelry is conflict free, eco friendly and sustainable. The truth is mammoth ivory is rare and costly because mammoths have been extinct for millennia.

The AFP reports Hong Kong customs cleared 21 tons of mammoth ivory and more than 90 percent of it came from Russia's arctic tundra. Most of it is anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 years old.

"Mammoth ivory is absolutely a non-renewable resource, and it is absolutely being depleted, in part, by the commercial trade," Dan Fisher, a University of Michigan mammoth expert, told AFP.

While it's hard to say how soon the world's stockpile of fossilized ivory could disappear, Fisher says it probably won't be any sooner than about 10 years from now.

Tags: Ivory, Michelle Obama, monique pean, wolly mammoth ivory jewelry, woolly mammoth

Filed under: Jewelry, The Fashion Statement

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)

jbigmacdaddy74 Aug 19th 2010 4:34PM

That dont make sence but what does coming from a stupid libhurl ?

andrea Aug 19th 2010 4:45PM

why is everyone concerned about her spending? she is an ivy league graduate and in any possition would be wealthy. she is a very intellegant and successful person all on her own, im so tired of all the BROKE ass americans hating on ppl with money. its like if you want to be treated equal go another country! this is america and america is built on capitalism, stop hating people who have more capital than you. make something out of yourself and you too can have luxurious spending accounts. goooshhhh!! its so annoying!! this isnt the depression, its survival of the fittest. and it seems there's a whole lot of unfit ppl getting a wake up call.

Jenny Aug 19th 2010 2:30PM

I can tell she is really in touch with the "common" people. Have we ever had a first lady that was so out of touch and just jetting around with her friends? She spent $500,000 on clothing (special orders) while in Spain mourning for her friend's Dad.

Carmen Aug 19th 2010 4:39PM

HELLO!!??? Every heard of Jackie Kennedy??

danieldbelcher1 Aug 19th 2010 3:21PM

Let's not forget that we almost had a VP who spent $250,000 on dresses. All politicians dress alike...expensively.

Judy Aug 19th 2010 3:58PM

America is sick of this whole Obama mess. He and his wife are embarassments to the working American tax payers and voters. This has to be the worst president in Americas history. As a democrat I am discusted with their big spending playing the scam of working class while being high rollers on the American peoples money, their racist views and their islamic muslum extremisist ties. I cannot wait to vote these two out of our White House.

Martha Aug 19th 2010 4:17PM

Yes, we have had several first ladies who jetted around the world. Two of the most popular Presidents in history had designer dressed lives which involved jet-setting with extremely wealthy friends.. These women would be Jackie Kennedy and Nancy Reagan. Reagan's best friend is Betsy Bloomingdale and several other billionaires who came to the White House etc . Nancy did this when Ronnie, the Republican god, first took office DURING a recession. Read some facts before you slash people, or slash them all.

wwp2003 Aug 19th 2010 4:57PM

Shut up you envious, whiney cow.

helmthom3cd Aug 19th 2010 5:36PM

How do you Know how much she spent?!!!!! Amazing!

JadeGrande27 Jan 18th 2011 1:11PM

How do you know what she spends on clothing?
People making shit up. That's what I hate.

Holly Aug 19th 2010 7:24PM

Even though a Republican, I could care less how Michelle Obama spends her own personal money. I only care when money spent is at the taxpayer's expense like the trip to Spain for which there was no official purpose. I do feel that wearing jewelry made of wooly mammoth tusks sets a poor example. Ivory is ivory whether it comes from a non-renewable source like the extinct wooly mammoth or from an African elephant. When the average person sees the 1st Lady wearing ivory, they don't think wooly mammoth, they think elephant and that it's ok to wear even if elephants are being killed. Also, I think it is sad that just for the sake of fashion, the supply of tusks that are 10,000 to 40,000 years old is being depleted. It's just like grave-robbing and selling parts of a corpse. Wearing ivory seems a lack of sensitivity on the part of the 1st Lady to protecting the elephant.

nicurnmegan Aug 19th 2010 10:45PM

One does not have to be a hater to think bad of Michelle or Mr Obama. Personally speaking I did not vote for Obama or McCain. In my mind neither was fit to be President. Since I am not a Dem. or Rep. but an American I feel like I am pretty neutral when it comes to any President and his wife. Bottomline the Obamas ran on the change and common people platform (something I didn't buy). Numerous Americans are upset because the Obamas are not behaving like commoners. During Mr Obamas campaign, journalist chose to focus on the fact that Michelle was in Target, Black and White, the Gap, etc., clothing. They focused on her "common man" clothing. (I will not totally fault the media on this one, because the Obama's knew what they were doing also). People voted based on the "commom man" perception, voters casted votes based on that "common man" spending perception. The common American (and very unemployed American) can not buy a cuff that goes from $4,480 to $7,420. People are not jealous or hating, some are feeling a bit CONNED thanks to her pre-whitehouse Walmart spending and her Sax 5th Ave whitehouse spending. People mention Jackie O, and Nancy Reagan but the media never portrayed them as Walmart shoppers. As far as the Ivy league graduate comment not every Ivy league graduate turns into a success story and a number of attorneys are not rolling in the dough (waiting for two attorneys, both friends, to pay back loans from over a year ago). Those who say Michelle made so much money before Mr. Obama's political climb (which now gives her the ability to spend like the rich and famous), unless they are privy to her tax returns they are assuming she would have been able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a trip to Spain. My attorney friends may be able to go to Spain but spending $500,000 on clothes, jewelry, etc, while vacationing NOT!

Joe Dominguez Aug 19th 2010 2:37PM

So long as she pays for it........why should it bother you!

laurelhearth Aug 19th 2010 2:38PM

It's nice to see that she can wear jewelry this expensive when the rest of us hard working folks out here are just trying to keep food on the table ! These people have NO CLUE what it's like to ' survive' in this day and time, and thanks to her husband, ' the president', it gets harder EVERY SINGLE DAY !

Tucson1209 Aug 19th 2010 3:48PM

did you study your butt off and graduate law school from an ivy league college? This is a capitalistic country, not socialist. If you want to live like the Obamas, go to school and get an education and quit crying for something you didn't work for.

lgeorg2 Aug 19th 2010 4:06PM

Is it her fault that you don't have any money?

Les Stace Aug 19th 2010 4:43PM

You are 100% correct! The Obamas care not a bit for the common working man. All she is doing is getting all the FREE taxpayers vacations and gifts because she knows the "village idiot" will not be re-elected!

helmthom3cd Aug 19th 2010 5:30PM

She and her husband both sacrificed and went to law school. They both worked and make money. They too are TAXPAYERS!!!!!!! Stop bitching about every thing the president does! All of the presidents and first ladies have spent an enormous amount of money to live. I agree people who are not educated do the most bitching and moaning!! We are not all factory and shift workers or minimum wage earners. STOP WHINING!!!!

wandasgirl Aug 19th 2010 6:13PM

Why don't you get up and stop whining so that if you want to afford jewelry like this you can? She didn't get it from your income. Did you begrude Laura Bush or Nancy Reagan when they wore their jewelry?

Phyllis Wilbanks Aug 19th 2010 5:58PM

That was paid for with the fifty million dollars they cut from Medicare that I paid forty five years for, and we do not get a cost of living raise for at least two years. LIVE OFF THE PEOPLE IT IS TYPICAL

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