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Carved ivory snuff bottle

Carved Ivory Snuff Bottle

Antiques occasionally provoke controversy - ivory carved in an era when wildlife conservation was not as seriously valued as now is at the heart of a vigorous debate which has been discussed on Antiques Roadshow over recent years. Wildlife campaigners argue such pieces, many of which are at least 100 years old, perpetuate the demand for illegal modern ivory carvings resulting in the continuing deaths of African elephants. Others argue that such objects are works of art from an era when such issues were less contentious and they cannot be judged by the moral standards of today. Recently some conservationists have called for the destruction of antique ivory.

Do you agree? We'd like to hear your views. Contact us at antiques.roadshow@bbc.co.uk or write with your thoughts to Antiques Roadshow, ´óÏó´«Ã½, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LR.

Here is an example of a very finely carved piece of ivory seen at our programme from Scone Palace. The Antiques Roadshow only films objects that are legal under the CITES convention terms, international legislation which determines conservation law for endangered species.

Duration:

2 minutes