On Saturday, September 24 at 1 p.m. the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with Denali Auction Company, will sell off an assortment of confiscated items. (The items will be available for preview beginning at 10 a.m.) These include goods made from both mammoth and pre-Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) walrus ivory, and thousands of small carved cow bone pendants. The auction will be held in the Egan Center's Summit Room, at 555 W. 5th Street, Anchorage.
The to-be-auctioned materials were included in a collection of wildlife and non-wildlife items, including products crafted from rare, endangered, and threatened species, which was smuggled into the United States by a dealer in animal products. This dealer also unlawfully removed old ivory and bones from federal lands in northern Alaska, which were then exported and carved in Indonesia. As a result of those violations the entire collection was forfeited to the United States government. Proceeds from this auction will serve two purposes: They will be used to reimburse victims who unknowingly purchased stolen mammoth ivory carvings from the smuggler, and to reimburse an account designated to fund the storage of wildlife evidence and the payment of rewards for those furnishing information to combat wildlife crime.
Included among the items available are whole mammoth tusks, mammoth ivory carvings, large and small leg bone carvings with bases, wooden boxes featuring ivory carvings, mammoth ivory sheath carvings with bases, mammoth tusk carvings, mammoth bone carvings with bases, pre-MMPA carved walrus ivory tusks, jet ball carvings, carved antlers, human figure artifact replicas, ivory bracelets, beaded necklaces (glass, bone, and ivory), ivory and beaded pendant necklaces, mammoth ivory pendants, bone and beaded necklaces, more than 500 ivory and bone carvings, necklaces, pendants and more.
In addition, the collection includes more than 10,000 carved cow bone amulet pendants carved into various shapes, including harpoons, birds, eagles, eagle claws, bears, bear skulls, waves, fishhooks wolf heads, antlers and walrus.
The terms of the sale include no minimum bids, no reserves, and no buyer's fees. Cash and personal/business checks (upon approval) will be accepted. To view images of selected auction items, or for more information about the auction, go to: http://www.fws.gov
