Got to thinking the other day that a good way, or at least a way, to display elephant ivory would be to have pedestal mounts using the feet. I have seen where the feet were used as stools, waste paper cans etc. I don't think that I have ever seen the feet used as pedestals. Has anyone seen this or have a photo of this? I sure would like to see how it looks.

Muchas gracias,
Hoot

Hoot, I have seen them done this way. It didnt do much for me personally but might appeal to you. I gues it is my bias against making furniture out of legs etc. I will see if I can find some pics for you. I know I have seen them recently.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Smith:
Hoot, I have seen them done this way. It didnt do much for me personally but might appeal to you. I gues it is my bias against making furniture out of legs etc. I will see if I can find some pics for you. I know I have seen them recently.

I have seen this also, and I also was not impressed.

The feet just don't make attractive pedestals. And then to have a tusk "growing" out of them... No thanks.

Big clunky feet just don't go well with long graceful ivory.

But then, different strokes for different folks...

Hoot, have missed you in Reno for a few years. Here is my ivory resting on ele feet. for the holiday season this year. Just and idea.

retreever NICE!!!! if i get an elephant this yr I'm going to bronze the skull put it on pedistal with tusks attached

That's very nice,Retreever!

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
Hoot, have missed you in Reno for a few years. Here is my ivory resting on ele feet. for the holiday season this year. Just and idea.

Quite an original idea mixing in the zebra skin which among others gives added protection
to the fragile part of the tusk - however, I would switch the ivory around to hide the
"meeting point" of the skin.

dd I have the skull down in my shed,
Mike's dog house. It comes out in the spring and rests in front of it and gets put away in the fall.



Thanks guys. Kiboko, I also noticed that after the pics were taken and have moved the boots around.

Mike, VERY NICE!!

Mad Dog

retreever= if you want that skull bronzed drop me a pm well work something out

Retreever,
great display! I love it!

ddrhook: It could compliment Mike's bronzed baby shoes!

I kind of like the idea of bronzing the skull and mounting the tusks on that. Never seen that done before. Sounds expensive, that's a lot of skull to cover. Wonder what it would cost to bronze my hippo skull? I think I will check it out.

Mike, if the neighbors ever ask, you could tell them it's a cyclops skull.

I always thought the skull with tusks still intact made for a stunning mount.

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:

I always thought the skull with tusks still intact made for a stunning mount.

I have seen that done too, and it makes a great looking mount!!

Retreever,

Your ivory looks damn good to me. I had thought of using polished brass at the bottom of the tusk but, I did not think of using zebra or other hide. For me, the challange would be getting the tusks and then worry about how to display them.

I missed year before last's SCI Meeting. I was there this year and I hung around the Giraffe Bar on Thursday and Friday at 3 pm and only a couple of guys showed up. A real bummer. It's nice to get to talk to people that post on AR.

Gracias,
Hoot

if I get an elephant this yr I will bronze it with tusk and post it here

quote:

I missed year before last's SCI Meeting. I was there this year and I hung around the Giraffe Bar on Thursday and Friday at 3 pm and only a couple of guys showed up. A real bummer. It's nice to get to talk to people that post on AR.

Come to DSC next year, there is a bunch of AR folks there! You would be very welcome!

Several of my friends have their skulls in the garden in one form or another. The best thing I ever saw was a guy up by Krueger had the skull mounted on his barn like we do with moose skulls. He had reprodction tusks put in it. The originals were in the house for obvious reasons. It looked really great.

Here is a nice set up for displaying elephant tusks There is a spring-loaded door at the back of each base that opens for storage as well. You can have different choices of wood. You can also have the bronze ele heads, ones that have been custom painted or none at all. The wooden bases can also be customized as to height and size. They are built by Monarch Taxidermy in Helena, Montana and were at the SCI Convention in January.

I think an elephant skull in the garden looks great. I want to let one sit out in the weather, and get good and weathered, lichen growing on it and all. I recall one that sat out in the dining area at the HHK camp in Matetsi, there were even some lizards that lived on it, and you would see them crawling over it chasing insects. It is the same one that is pictured in "In the Salt" with Lou Halimore standing in front of it. I believe that one is on the cover, will have to pull the book out sometime and look. If anyone remembers the movie "Shaka Zulu", there were elephant skulls with the tusks mounted on big stone columns, columns were painted and I believe had mosaics. Would that not make a great looking entrance to your trophy room or your back yard? One of the neat things I remember seeing years ago while hunting on a ranch in South Texas near Loredo, somebody had taken a cow's pelvis bone, and attached the tail bones hanging down to look like a trunk, a Texas version of an elephant skull! Wish I had a camera with me to take a picture.

I have an elephant skull, a giraffe skull, a rhino skull and a hippo skull all in the back yard. In our dry climate they are perfect and are very good conversation pieces with pool guests!

What's the weight of a typical bull elephant skull?

quote:

Originally posted by BigFiveJack:
What's the weight of a typical bull elephant skull?

Not nearly as much as one would think. I had mine shipped with my trophies, but I have never weighed it.

They are a bit awkward to move around, so it really is a two person job, but I would guess mine weighs about 75 pounds. They are pretty light for their size.

The jaw, on the other hand, is pretty heavy for its size. Maybe 30 or 35 pounds.

One regret that I have is that I did not bring back one of the large leg bones and a rib and a couple of vertebrae. I think those would look great laying around a trophy room.

Mike, that ivory is ridiculous! I never get over how nice it is. You are one fortunate (and hard working) elephant hunter!

Mike,
If you have a bit of ele skin left over, it might suit better than the zebra skins as "boots".

Also, the older the ivory get's, the more likely it is to split (especially long ivory) and I have seen displays where metal "clamps" are used along the circumference of the ivory to prevent this. I wonder if instead of using metal clamps, one can use ele hide strips dampened on fitting and left to shrink as they dry on the tusk??? To me, the metal "clmps" detracts from the tusk though I understand the necessity.

The below belongs to someone here (sadly not me) but I really like this idea.





This two tiered system made a bit more robustly, with a bit more vertical distance between the tusks, and mounted to the wall would also look great.

Elephant skulls do not do as well in the garden in midwest US weather.

BigB

quote:

Originally posted by tendrams:
The below belongs to someone here (sadly not me) but I really like this idea.





This two tiered system made a bit more robustly, with a bit more vertical distance between the tusks, and mounted to the wall would also look great.

Both of those set-ups are outstanding. The table is very unique.