<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1458" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 12/10/2004 7:44:36 P.M. Central Standard Time, jlolson@cal.net writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size= =2>I recently became aware that new ivory is back on the market -- supposedly <BR>legal -- again.  Does anyone here have any knowledge of the sourc= e of this <BR>ivory, or thoughts on the ethical questions (assuming some of the= ivory <BR>might be harvested from elephants, which I personally wouldn't w= ant to be a <BR>part of).<BR><BR>This came up in conjunction with a Steinway rebuild project, where the <BR>customer requested new ivories, and pointed= out that they are now available <BR>legally (in a limited way, apparently, according to my online searches).<BR><BR>Any thoughts?<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Jeff <BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV>Jeff</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>From what I have been told, and I might be mistaken, is that it is still illegal to import ivory.  There are some piano technici= ans who have gone to the trouble of removing ivories from older pianos, and reconditioning them to look like new. There are also a lot of older pianos t= hat still have ivory keytops, and the whole piano is restored, with new parts an= d a new finish, but with the original ivories still in tact. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Technician<BR>School of Music<BR>University of Alabama</FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>