as a woodturner, I met a guy at a craft show who does scrimshaw and has permits to own certain amounts of fossil ivory...He asked me to make several pen & pencil sets from small bits he had, and when those turned out well, he asked me to make a lid for a silver cream pitcher from a Mammoth tusk. "gulp"...so I did---with him watching over my shoulder! He said the piece..about 3 1/2" diameter..was worth about $150 in unfinished state. It seemed to please him, and I suppose he sold that cream pitcher for hundreds of $$$. It was interesting, but I doubt I'll ever get to do it again.

Ivory turns very well if you have a solid chunk and is very nice to polish ...(I practiced by working on pieces of Corian, the artifical countertop material)