Ivory Maiden Musicians
There are 4 different 'maidens'.We were told they are ivory from the 19th century. They are about 6" tall and about 5" wide. There is no signature on the bottom just a small x on one foot. The weight is about 1 lb.
From a private collection
Gallery/Dealer
No
Dear Joyce,
I have to tell, most likely, a sad story. These very nice carved Chinese ( Not Japanese ) statues are made in Elephant ivory and dated ca. 1950 / 1960. CITES ( https://www.cites.org/https://www.cites.org/ ) CITES prohibits trade in Ivory containing products cut or tooled after 3 -3 - 1947 unless you can provide CITES Certificate. These Certificates will only be given if you can show to CITES the original route from factory to the end buyer by showing old invoices / bills and import documents. In many cases people don't have these documents and bills. If you have this bills I recommend you to ask for CITES certificate by contacting them. Be aware that if documents are not ok the statues can be confiscated. I know that many auction houses sell these as 1920 / 1930, sometimes because they really do not know the real age. You can talk to some of them in your region and send pictures. Its possible they still want to sell. Value is the market with Cites papers is for four statues $ 1500 - 2000. If an auction house accepts them as 1920 production you can look at the same numbers.
Regards,
Simon Breider
