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

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 10 of 10)

ladydi9251 Aug 19th 2010 10:59PM

spider...don't be jealous. how bout you puttin your mugshot on display. ha ha...didn't think so. bet you're fat and nasty lookin..ew!

diannah95 Aug 19th 2010 11:05PM

hey, fatazzlumpolard, the obamas are millionaires too. and for YOUR INFO, the trip to spain was paid for by the obamas. of course the secret service was paid for by the gov. get over it and you get a life

diannah95 Aug 19th 2010 11:15PM

yes lord, my JET BLACK ASS!! and i'd like for you to lick it. how bout it bioch???

Rebecca Aug 20th 2010 1:52AM

I'm not sure why people are criticizing Michelle Obama for wearing luxury jewelry...on a luxury website. If you don't want to see others' wealth rubbed in your face, you might want to spend your online time elsewhere.

Also, it would help if before commenting people made a point to know for certain which Obama expenses the taxpayers are and are not footing, to reel in the racism, and to get the facts right.

Or just comment on the necklace, as that was the point of the post.

Shandra Aug 20th 2010 2:16AM

Ladydi? Bush didn't say he wanted to "Spread the wealth around", Mr. Obama did.
Let's lead by example or not suggest what the rest of us should do. Also, Bush didn't cause the job losses by himself, he had a good ol' Democrat congress majority to keep him in check. I see more job losses now, plus trillions of dollars spent that will keep the American people paying off this monumental debt forever. More has been spent under Obama's reign than all of Bush's. Can we all say we're better off now, than we were 2 years ago? I think not. And for cryin out loud, you Dems need to quit blaming Bush and take responsibility for what has happened in the last 18 months! Bush is history, let's take a close look at the ""we've had the past 18 months and talk about that!

Kathy Aug 20th 2010 8:18AM

Poor as a church mouse huh? But yet you have a computer...hmmm...of course they should look nice...they represent America...unfortunately...but her recent little trip to Spain cost the tax payers 500K...that is not right in this economy...a few weeks ago they were on another vacation and they forgot the dog...Obama had the dog flown...at tax payers expense...to their vacation spot...I do not think our money is theirs to spend as they wish...that is all...

Jenni Aug 20th 2010 3:07PM

Hello Chuck...In case you have forgotten...it was a conservative Republican that drove this wreck into the ditch in the first place. President Obama (he is your President too and the office deserves your respect) is at least trying to do something instead of hiding in the bushes and letting it roll along like our last President did. Except for that little WAR he started. Man up Chuck. You may not mind the spilling of young American blood on foreign soil but I do. I also think you missed the point of the article. The President was not the issue. I'll bet you spread the word that he is Muslim too.

Beagle Girl Aug 23rd 2010 5:48PM

Hey Gomer, Thank you for your feedback. Mrs. Obama is doing an outstanding job!
I think that what a lot of people who have made negative comments on her fashion spending may not have considered is that her bling may have been given to her as gifts, or it could be very old bling that was purchased well before her days of becoming 1st lady. People have jumped to the conclusion that it was bought with their tax dollars, which is unfounded judgment! I do not condone her trip to Spain and her extravagant speding there, but what she wears and how she looks is her business; and the fact that she looks like a class act is an honor to the position that she holds!

Joan Ferko Aug 21st 2010 11:18AM

sorry Jenni but it was a Democrat Congress in the last two years while Bush was in office. So, do the math, it has been almost four years that the Undemocrats have had control. Obama is doing his job for Soros well, in fact, so well that the used to be Dems are not aware of how he is destroying our country and are cheering him on. What a hoot, Axelrod and all of the Chicago Gang are having in the White House. Obama is NOT my Pres., he is the Resident of the White House. If you really knew what was going on, you would know that Hillary Clinton won the Democrat(it existed then) Primary. It was stolen big time by the DNC. GO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE DIRTY, DIRTY, SCUM BAG TACTICS THAT WERE USED BY THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN. Also be aware that the DNC would not investigate any of the 1200 serious complaints that changed the primary. Check out the dishonest Caucasus and you will be in the know just like Bill and Hillary Clinton are. Why do you think the rift is there? It is because Chicago politics went nationwide at the Democrat National Convention. I was involved in call Super Delegates at the time, asking them to withhold backing Obama, because they bought votes by promising deeds, and many were just going over as asked to do because they thought he was going to win anyway.

This all, along with " I don't have to show a Birth Certificate", just because everyone else does, and you do not need to see any of my records because I
wrote two books that contain just what I want you to believe, should enlighten
you who follow like sheep to slaughter! Because you follow, you take away our freedom because we are no longer a majority rules country. Minorities , Atheists and Anti Christians are running this country.