We have been reading and hearing a lot about the ban on ivory and how it has crushed that market. I do believe there needs to be checks on ivory and make sure that it is ‘antique’; however, it just does not seem very fair to those people who have collected it for decades … some have millions of dollars invested. Now, it appears, those collections may we worthless. Until some compromises are made, dealers and collectors will have to obey the current laws.
On 22 September, three dealers —Victor Zilberman, Irving Morano and Samuel Morano—who operate the Metropolitan Fine Arts and Antiques store in New York were arrested for selling ivory works of art without a license—a felony in the state under a law passed in 2014 to limit the ivory trade. This establishment is located very close to our gallery and I walk by it almost every day. I always wonder why, with the current laws in place, they displayed so much ivory in their windows? Guess they will not be doing that again.
Source: Antiques dealers arrested and $4.5m worth of ivory seized in New York
In addition, I have always wondered: how do those guys stay in business? Now I know:
Source: Antique shop tricked tourist into $1M sale
Source: Orange County Man Claims New York Antiques Dealer Conned Him In $3 Million Deal
Some of the ivory that was seized.