<< Back to Fossilized Ivory Our ivory comes from wooly mammoths whose souls departed this earth 12,000-150,000 years ago!! Our sources traverse the glaciers of Alaska, scavenging in their tiny boats and planes for this desirable and rare product. It is not uncommon to find tiny fissures in jewelry made from ivory, because of its incredible old age. A piece like this is still considered excellent quality. Our mastodon ivory is a great alternative to bone-colored hanging designs in 8mm and larger, though it is much more costly. It is rare to find, old as the hills, and difficult to carve. Thus, we tend to have a modest sized stock of it on hand, and there is a possibility that we may not have the exact pair in your exact size in stock. But we will be more than happy to back order it for you. This is a hand carved material, originating from a once living being, so there will be slight variances in diameter, color and design. In filling your order, we will select the pair(s) that we feel are the most beautiful, rather than a replica of the image you see on our website. As an organic material, it should not come into contact with water or humidity, as those elements (along with altitude change and climate change) can cause it to warp, crack, or break. Direct Sunlight can also cause warping, cracking, or breaking, in fact organic material naturally expands and contracts with direct sunlight, thus cracking is likely. Tawapa is not responsible for breaks or cracks in the jewelry that occur after it has arrived and been worn. Please don’t sleep in your jewelry, as it may break. Our jewelry is strong yet not invincible. None of our jewelry is intended to be worn through a mucous membrane. Nor is it intended to be ingested. We design our jewelry for healed piercings only and not for the process of stretching.